Rococo

The playful successor to the Baroque: asymmetrical shells, pastel and gold in salons and pleasure palaces.

Rococo emerged in France in the 1720s and 1730s and was primarily a style of interior decoration. It aimed to please rather than to impress: light colours, mirrors, gilded frames and the asymmetrical rocaille ornament that gave the style its name. On the outside the buildings are often restrained.

When Louis XIV died in 1715 the nobility moved from Versailles back to Paris and built intimate town houses with salons for conversation. Interiors became lighter and more personal. The word comes from rocaille, the shell and rock forms that adorned grottoes in Baroque gardens. The style had a great impact in Germany and Central Europe, where churches and palaces were given jubilant Rococo interiors.

Carl Hårleman brought Rococo to the interiors of the Royal Palace in Stockholm, and the Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm is one of the finest Rococo buildings in the Nordic countries.