The Thinking Hand is a scholarship competition for young draftspeople. The nominees and their artwork are displayed in a digital gallery on the website 23 April to 23 June.
HM THE KING'S SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION is open to young draftspeople working with visual interpretation within art, architecture, fashion, design, illustration, game development and other related fields. The scholarship competition and exhibition is a collaboration between the Royal Court and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
The exhibition
The nominees work will be displayed 23 April – 23 June in a digital gallery at Royalpalaces.se
Tenth anniversary autumn 2026
An exhibition is planned for autumn 2026 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, 10 October–21 November, featuring the 30 artists who by then will have been awarded The Thinking Hand scholarship between 2017 and 2026. This marks the end of the scholarship competition, which was first established to commemorate His Majesty the King’s 70th birthday in 2016.
In the Bernadotte Family, each generation has shown a commitment to culture and a desire to support those who work with art. We wish to wish to make special mention of Gustaf VI Adolf, a founding member of the Friends of the National Museum in 1911 and whose many years of support for the National Museum's drawing competition 'Young Draftsmen' has been a source of inspiration for the drawing competition 'The Thinking Hand'. Using his position to bring attention to, aid and support young artists was a matter of course for the former king, as it is for our current King and his son Prince Carl Philip, who has served on the jury for the scholarship competition since its inception in 2017.
