A bracing dose of Modernism

I'm not a Modernist junkie -- I get very tired of the ubiquitous Barcelona chairs and tulip tables in what often feels like every single home pictured in the shelter magazines.

But in the midst of all the National Romantic style wood and stone at Hvitträsk, there's something very refreshing about this red Womb chair in front of the white relief, part of an exhibit on the Saarinens in America in the main house.

I don't think it's a coincidence that this is one of the few chairs at Hvitträsk that you're actually tempted to sit down in. Saarinen may have designed it many years after he left Finland, but I'm sure he still had awful memories of the uncomfortable chairs in his childhood playroom. Hvitträsk has a lot of cozy built-in group seating, but most of the chairs, while interesting to look at, are not anything I would choose for reading, say, or watching tv. Or, really, sitting.