Portrait of Honour is Max Martin

The 2024 Portrait of Honour depicts songwriter and music producer extraordinaire Max Martin, and was taken by photographer Mikael Jansson.

– Considering who has featured in the past, it feels almost unreal to have a hard rocker from Stenhamra moving into Gripsholm Castle

The portrait

Max Martin (Martin Sandberg) has achieved phenomenal success as a songwriter and music producer ever since the late 1990s, writing songs for a whole host of global superstars, including Adele, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Ariana Grande. Nowadays, he is often cited as the most influential songwriter and producer in the world. He has received many awards and accolades for his work, not least the Polar Music Prize in 2016.

In the 1990s, Max Martin was part of the legendary music production collective Cheiron in Stockholm, led by Denniz Pop (Dag Volle). It was here that he had his first massive hit with Britney Spears’ Baby one more time, a song that took the number one spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and since then, he has had a further 26 number ones as a songwriter.

In a statement, Max Martin says he feels honoured and grateful to be made part of the National Portrait Collection: “Considering who has featured in the past, it feels almost unreal to have a hard rocker from Stenhamra moving into Gripsholm Castle. And getting to work with one of the leading portrait photographers of our time, Mikael Jansson, obviously makes it even more special.”

The artist

The portrait of Max Martin is by Mikael Jansson, who has also enjoyed huge success over several decades on the global scene. He has worked as a fashion photographer for illustrious magazines such as Vogue, Interview and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as publishing a number of books and producing exhibitions to great acclaim. One such exhibition was Witnesses, a collection of portraits of Holocaust survivors.

The portrait of Max Martin contains a level of refined detail that may not be immediately apparent. The T-shirt is of course an homage to Prince, one of Martin’s major influences. But the design on the T-shirt is also part of the composition. Martin’s hands – which appear to be moving to music – interact with Prince’s hand. While Martin has his eyes closed, Prince is looking at the viewer with one eye.

The portrait gallery

The Swedish National Portrait Gallery is the world's oldest national portrait gallery. This is also one of the world's largest portrait galleries, and currently includes approximately 5,000 works, mostly oil paintings, of which Gripsholm Castle houses more than 800.

The portrait collection now contains portraits of Swedish luminaries, with previous Portraits of Honour featuring Benny Andersson, Alice Babs, Ingmar Bergman, Hédi Fried, Britta Marakatt-Labba, Alva Myrdal, Birgit Nilsson and Svante Pääbo, amongst many others.

The portrait gallery at Gripsholm

See previous Portraits of Honour