Art from Sweden

Stone Age inscriptions and drawings have been discovered in Sweden dating from about 7000 BC. Between the 8th and 11th centuries AD Viking or Norse Art was created. Since the Middle Ages, Swedish Art was mostly involved with church decorations. By the 17th century, many Swedish artists were adopting the trending styles of other parts of Europe.

Michael Dahl

Swedish portrait artist Michael Dahl lived and worked in England for most of his career. He focused on painting portraits of famous people such as aristocrats and members of royal families.

The artist created the portrait of Anne, Queen of Great Britain in 1705.

Alexander Roslin

Swedish portrait artist Alexander Roslin was one of Dahl’s successors. He spent most of his life in Sweden but traveled to other parts of Europe like Germany, France, Italy, and Russia. He created portraits of rich aristocrats. The artist lived and worked during the Rococo Era but also incorporated the elements of neo-Classicism in his artwork.

Among his most famous paintings was Self-Portrait while Painting the King of Sweden in 1785

Carl Larsson

Swedish artist Carl Larsson was one of the most famous members of the Arts and Crafts movement in Sweden. The style emerged in Great Britain in the early 1880s spreading to other places in the world. He had a distinctive style influenced by Art Nouveau artists. He also created watercolors and large frescoes.

Among his best-known paintings was Brita and Me! Self-portrait created in 1895. It shows his fifth child, a daughter, and her name is included in her father’s initials.

Hilma af Klint

Swedish artist Hilma af Klint is one of the most important Swedish artists in history. She created artworks considered to be among the first abstract paintings in Western Art history. She started producing the first works of art in the early 20th century. She belonged to a group known as The Five. They comprised a circle of women inspired by Theosophy, who shared a belief in the importance of trying to contact the High Masters by way of seances.

Among her best-known abstract paintings was Primordial Chaos, No, 16 created from 1906 to 1907.

Anders Zorn

Swedish artist Anders Zorn was the modern equivalent of the famous Swedish portrait painters of the 17th and 18th centuries. He studied art at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. He created portraits of some of the most important people in history. Among them were three American Presidents Grover Cleveland, William H. Taft, and Theodore Roosevelt. When he became wealthy he collected art and on his passing his art collection was donated to Sweden.

In 1899 a portrait of Grover Cleveland

Richard Bergh

Swedish artist Richard Bergh studied with the Swedish artist Anders Zorn at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in the late 1870s. In the 1880s he traveled to Paris, France. He developed his distinctive style that was influenced by naturalism, the later phase of Realism. His paintings often depicted Swedish landscapes and portraits.

Among his best-known paintings was Portrait of Gerda created in 1894. She was the artist’s second wife.

Eugene Jansson

Swedish artist Eugene Jansson created artwork dominated by a blue hue. It earned him the nickname of The Blue Painter. A lot of his earlier artworks were cityscapes of Stockholm, Sweden. Later on in his career, he started solely painting male nude models.

Among his best-known artwork was a self-portrait created in his blue hue style in 1910.

John Bauer

Swedish artist John Bauer was famous for his illustrations. His most popular artworks depicted Swedish folklore and mythology particularly a fairytale Among Gnomes and Trolls. He created artwork in the Romantic Nationalistic style.

Among his folklore creations was Svipdag Transformed