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Swedish art refers to the visual arts produced inSweden or by Swedish artists. Sweden has existed as a country for over 1,000 years, and for times before this, as well as many subsequent periods, Swedish art is usually considered as part of the widerNordic art ofScandinavia. It has, especially since about 1100, been strongly influenced by wider trends in European art. After World War II, the influence of the United States strengthened substantially. Due to generous art subsidies, contemporary Swedish art has a big production per capita.
Though usually not especially a major centre for art production or exporter of art, Sweden has been relatively successful in keeping its art; in particular, the relatively mild nature of theSwedish Reformation, and the lack of subsequent extensive rebuilding and redecoration of churches, has meant that with other Scandinavian countries, Sweden has had an unusually rich survival of medieval church paintings and fittings. One period when Nordic art exerted a strong influence over the rest of northern Europe was inViking art, and there are many survivals, both in stone monuments left untouched around the countryside, and objects excavated in modern times.
The Reformation greatly disrupted Swedish artistic traditions, and left the existing body of painters and sculptors without large markets. The requirements of the court and aristocracy were mainly for portraits, usually by imported artists, and it was not until the late 17th or 18th century that large numbers of Swedes were trained in contemporary styles. The political success of theVasa dynasty led to a considerable revival, expressed in the "Gustavan style", which again had some influence over neighbouring countries.
Among famous Swedish artists areJohn Bauer,Hilma af Klint,Carl Milles,Anders Zorn,Carl Larsson andCarl Eldh.
When the Ice Age ended, the Scandinavian peninsula was populated from the south by hunters and gatherers. Art surviving from that period areStone Age expressions and are simple and reflect the available material. Only the truly persistent art forms have survived the ravages of time:petroglyphs are such an expression. The earliest rock carvings in the form of symbols, characters and images are carved in rock outcrops and boulders. They began to be produced about 7000 BC. Sweden has one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs with a local center inTanum Municipality inBohuslän province.
During theBronze Age, a spiral ornamentation was produced in the style that existed inDenmark.[1] From about 400 AD, the development of the Nordic animal ornamentation, an unusually rich and imaginative style that reached its peak during the 7th century with the so-called Vendel style. Animal ornamentation experienced a renewed flourishing on therunestones. Runestones – some of which are quite illustrative and are therefore called "image blocks" – were added between about 200 AD and 1130 with a flourishing during the period 980–1100. As an art form, the runestone is specific to Nordic culture. Sweden leads the way with the highest number of runestones, with a total of 2,800 inscriptions. Approximately 85% of all the identified blocks have been in Sweden.[2] The stones were originally painted and combined text with ornamentation and stylized characters. They can be divided into seven different styles.[3] Some of the first known image-makers in Sweden were, in fact, rune carvers.
Sweden, especially the south of the country, also participated inViking Age art, along with the rest of Scandinavia.
With the advent of Christianity came a new iconography, originally established in the churches, particularly in the form ofbaptismal fonts,rood crosses and devotional sculptures. According to theSwedish History Museum, no other country has such a rich and comprehensive collection of medieval liturgical art.[4] The earliest art made for the churches wasRomanesque in style. It also included fabrics and gold works. From the 12th century, Gotland was a center for sculptors, such asMajestatis andByzantios, artists known by laternotnames. TheViklau Madonna, one of the most well-preserved wooden sculptures from the 12th century in Europe, was made in a workshop on Gotland which also produced rood crosses.[5]
TheGothic style came to Sweden during the second half of the 13th century.Linköping Cathedral is built in English Gothic style and contains richly decorated sculptures. Other works from this period exhibit a French influence, for example thetriumphal cross fromÖja Church, Gotland and St. Erik's statue inRoslags-Bro Church in Uppland. Most of the artistic influences of the time, however, were conveyed via present-day Germany. Apart from wooden and stone sculpture, a large amount ofdecorative church murals survive in Sweden. These paintings, which decorated the vaults and walls of the churches, survive in large numbers notably inScania andUppland. Visual narratives gained momentum in the churches in central Sweden in the late 15th century by masters such asNils Håkansson andAlbertus Pictor. Motifs during this period were often religious or mythical. There are also Gothic monumental paintings on wood in Sweden.[1] Sweden also has the largest amount ofpreserved medieval stained glass in the Nordic countries, the majority of which is preserved in thechurches of Gotland. Contemporary with Albertus Pictor is the famous sculpture ofSaint George and the Dragon in theGreat Church of Stockholm.[6] It was made by the German-born painter and sculptorBernt Notke, one of the most influential northern European artists of the late Middle Ages.[7] Notke, who periodically lived in Sweden, was very productive and had great influence with an intense and expressionistic style.[8]
The Vasa period of art consisted largely of portraits of princes, which were painted by foreign artists who were active in Sweden.Urban Larsson with hisVädersoltavla from 1535, in the Great Church in Stockholm, was an exception. He is one of the few well-known Swedish artists during the Vasa period and the Renaissance era.[6]
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The pompous, happy and decorative made its entrance in the 17th century Great Power – during the 17th and 18th centuries the first few decades – was a grand time for architecture. A number of castles, mansions and churches built, like the Royal Palace, meant that artists were called from abroad. These foreign artists trained new generations of Swedish artists. More significant art collections were acquired through spoils of war. One famous artist was the court painterDavid Klöcker Ehrenstrahl.[6] Ehrenstral was also a portraitist and animal painter, and worked with theDrottningholm Palace, together with Johan Sylvius.Erik Dahlbergh depicted the superpower era of Sweden in the great workSuecia Antiqua et Hodierna. Other painters wereDavid von Krafft,Michael Dahl.[1]
Liberty and the Gustavian period was a major cultural boom in Sweden. At this time,Rococo was the initial style.[clarification needed] Future portrait paintings made it internationally known in Swedish painting.[1] During the period, many Swedish artists moved to continental Europe. A representative of the rococo wasGustaf Lundberg. His technique was long dominant in the Swedish portrait arts, and he is represented at the Louvre and the National Museum and Art Academy. The French painterGuillaume Taraval was called upon to decorate the Royal Palace. Together withCarl Hårleman he advocated the new relaxed style. A leading style artist wasJean Eric Rehn, a student of Hårleman, who worked as craftsmen, architect and artist.
Alexander Roslin took inspiration from France and conducted many highly sensitive portraits of the era's finest personalities. Some of Roslin's portraits are among the most reproduced from the period. Of major importance was alsoCarl Gustaf Pilo, who became a court painter in Denmark. Pilo was inspired both by Venetian artists and the DutchmanRembrandt van Rijn. Pilo returned, however, to Sweden and then painted the great work Gustaf III's coronation in Stockholm Cathedral.[1]
Other prominent names wereJohan Pasch,Per Krafft the Elder,Peter Adolf Hall,Pehr Hilleström and, perhaps most importantly,Johan Tobias Sergel. Over time, beginning around 1770, Rococo was succeeded in Sweden by the Gustavian period. Swedish neoclassicism is said to have begun around 1785. The Gustavian period was characterized by both French and English influence.
After Gustav III's death, there was a period of stagnation in Swedish art. On the other hand, peasant painting flourished in particular, Dalarna and Hälsingland with painting andDala horses during this time.[clarification needed] Peasantry painting became a major inspiration for the 18th century artistCarl Larsson.Gothicism andNeoclassicism were the styles of art for several decades, including artists like the sculptorBengt Fogelberg.[6] Fogelberg, who was inspired by the Danish sculptorBertel Thorvaldsen, created powerful statues of Nordic deities and historical figures.
From the mid-19th century and a few decades later, nature paintings dominated the scene, withMarcus Larsson in the lead. Artists that pointed to something new wereEgron Lundgren andCarl Fredrik Hill. Hill became one of the foremost Swedish landscape painters as he had views that reflected his personality and often express despair and darkness. Egron Lundberg developed watercolor art, as he traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, and painted his findings. Historical painting was also done extensively during the period, including artists such asCarl Gustaf Hellqvist andGustaf Cederström.[6] Another painter wasAugust Malmström, who created historic and romantic nature works and illustrated many fairytales.
From an international perspective Swedish-produced art languished in obscurity until the late 19th century, when a number of Swedish artists gained attention outside of Sweden. Especially the 1880s and the following two decades were periods of greatness in the Swedish art. Perhaps the best artist of them is the painter, sculptor, and printmakerAnders Zorn. Zorn was an extremely talented oil painter with a very precise but free style.
Anders Zorn painted landscapes and people and is known for his nude studies of the hillocks fromDalarna.[clarification needed] Zorn was also concerned with depicting peasant life in his home province of Dalarna.Amalia Lindegren also created glorified scenes of the Swedish peasant and folk. Zorn was counted as one of the foremost painters in Europe in the late 19th century and made many portraits of contemporary celebrities.[9] Some famous work isLove's Nymph (1883),A Prime (1888),Midsummer Dance (1897),President Grover Cleveland (1899) andBathing hills (1906). Zorn's art is featured at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and theWhite House, and his works are among the most valued of all Swedish artists.
Another big name from this generation isCarl Larsson. Larsson, like Zorn, appeared in Dalarna and is one of the most beloved Swedish artists. Larsson painted primarily in watercolor and his motifs were found in daily life: he often portrayed his own family and their home in Sundborn. His style is airy, very light and is characterized by a skillful interplay of surfaces and lines. Larsson created frescoes and wall paintings, like "Midvinterblot" and several other frescoes in theNationalmuseum in Stockholm. Larsson became very famous in Germany in connection with an art book,A Home, that was published there. Another painter who achieved great popularity wasBruno Liljefors with very precise paintings of nature and animals in motion.
Two painters with great stylistic ability wereEugène Jansson andErnst Josephson. Taking stylistic inspiration fromvan Gogh, Jansson's paintings are often geometrically simple large forms, tranquil Stockholm motifs as well as powerful homoerotic male figures. Josephsson is more varied and known for masterful oil portraits. He became an inspiration for the later modernism. Portrait painting was also developed by Richard Bergh as well as byNils Kreuger. A significant development came in 1885 with the artists' groupOpponenterna ('the Opponents'), who wanted to renew Swedish painting and gathered many of those names. A few years later, in the 1890s, Bergh and Kreuger founded theVarberg School [sv] together withKarl Nordström. They reacted against the realistic landscape style and were inspired byPaul Gauguin.[10] Especially Nordström was inspired by the French impressionists. A close friend of Nordström was the author and the universal genius ofAugust Strindberg. Even Strindberg was an important Swedish painter from the period. The rise of women artists, such asEva Bonnier, andHanna Pauli, who took inspiration from Rembrandt and others, also became prominent in this period.[6]
Modernism began to enter Swedish art withAxel Törneman and thenDe unga [sv] ('the Young Ones', also known as1909 års män, 'the Men of 1909'), which was a group of young male artists, mainly fromKonstnärsförbundets skola. More abstract forms were represented byHilma af Klint,Nils von Dardel andGösta Adrian Nilsson.[6]
The mid-1920s and a couple of decades following were both characterized by surrealism, theHalmstad Group, and of expressionism, which includes Gothenburg School realistsSven Erixson andBror Hjorth, and a rigorous formalist, abstract minimalism of artists such asOlle Bærtling [sv].[6] Among the sculptors of the period areCarl Eldh andCarl Milles. Both have had great influence and the latter is perhaps the most famous Swedish sculptor of all time. From the same generation of sculptors came the self-taught wood sculptor and realist people portrayerAxel Petersson Döderhultarn.
After World War II, Swedish art was in somewhat of a boom and a host of artists established themselves. With a new democratic idea in 1947 that art was founded for everyone, popular movements promoting art and in the same period also launched a variety of arts organizations across the country. Among the radicals of the 1930s, such as painterAlbin Amelin and graphic artist and monumental painterTorsten Billman, the work continued to bring images to the working people.Torsten Billman also reached new groups through his literary illustrations. In the 1950s expressionists emerged likeTorsten Renqvist [sv] and more informal painters such asRune Jansson (artist) [sv] andEddie Figge [sv].[6]
In the early 1960s, Swedish art was revitalized by graphic artists such asPhilip von Schantz [sv] andNils G. Stenqvist [sv].[6]
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