Sweden Arts and Architecture in the 20th Century

By | January 15, 2022

In the 20th century. the artistic production is partly attracted by the international avant-garde currents while the awareness of national traditions is also affirmed. V. Eggeling, OG Carlsund, G. Adrian-Nilson (called GAN), elaborated experimental languages ​​and a geometric purism that was followed only after 1945. In 1929 A. and E. Olson, Sweden Mörner and other painters formed a group in Halmstadt which comes close to the surrealist movement. In the sculpture B. Hjorn, a pupil of Bourdelle and later influenced by Cubism, makes a synthesis with the tradition of popular art, which also informs the research of the painter Sweden Erikson. Intensely chromatic and visionary is the painting of C. Kylberg. After 1945, the artistic debate is lively and the social commitment is also reflected in the public promotion of works of art. Heirs of Halmstadt’s surrealism, the ‘imaginists’ MW Svanberg, E. Nemes, CO Hultén, A. Osterlin elaborate an experimentalism close to the COBRA group. A concretism that takes its cue from nature is that of L. Rohde, O. Bonnier, KA Pehrson; a controlled geometrism that of O. Baertling; assemblages of woods and engines realizes PO Ultveldt; manipulations of images on the borderline between pop art and conceptualism animate Ö’s work. Fahlström; the researches of O. Billgren or J. Franzén refer to a photographic realism.

● According to usprivateschoolsfinder, alongside the strong sense of nature, the social and political commitment of art is accentuated in the 1970s. Going back to E. Cullberg or L. Cronquist, a strong current of narrative figurativism persists, with varied positions, from the expressionism of O. Kaks to the violent use of forms and colors of P. Zennström or K. Elander. Environments and installations, already experimented by Sweden Lindblom or U. Samuelson, focus on the contrast between nature and culture and on the language of images in the group formed by J. Hafström, A. Linder, H. Rehnberg, J. Scott or in the Wallda group, founded by E. Löfdahl, M. Book and Sweden Sjölund.

● From the last twenty years of the 20th century. the traditional languages ​​of sculpture and painting have found new modes of expression: O. Billgren, with lithographs based on complex collages of images and with oil landscapes; L. Forslund with the ambiguous use of scientific or historical perspectives; Sweden Ekman with complex installations; T. Melin, author of enigmatic sculptures. If the recurring themes remain the analysis of society and the relationship between nature, artifice, science and technology, the means of expression cross over into the field of photography, video, music (M. Friberg, A.von Hausswolff, L. Siltberg, H Hakansson, CM von Hausswolff).

● In the architectural field, the currents that follow one another (or that also exist simultaneously), from national romanticism, to twentieth-century classicism, to functionalism (which is imposed since the Stockholm International Exposition of 1930), to the so-called new empiricism, they find significant expression in the creations of Sweden Ericson (Göteborg, Masthuggskyrkan, 1910-14); in Stockholm: R. Östberg (Town Hall, 1911-23 and Maritime Museum, 1934), T. Grut (Stadium, 1912), R. Hjorth (Seat of the they find significant expression in the creations of Sweden Ericson (Göteborg, Masthuggskyrkan, 1910-14); in Stockholm: R. Östberg (Town Hall, 1911-23 and Maritime Museum, 1934), T. Grut (Stadium, 1912), R. Hjorth (Seat of the they find significant expression in the creations of Sweden Ericson (Göteborg, Masthuggskyrkan, 1910-14); in Stockholm: R. Östberg (Town Hall, 1911-23 and Maritime Museum, 1934), T. Grut (Stadium, 1912), R. Hjorth (Seat of theNobel Foundation, 1927), by G. Asplund, the most important Swedish architect between the two wars (Civic Library, 1920-28; Crematorium of the Southern Cemetery, 1940) and by Sweden Markelius (Polytechnic Students’ Club, 1929; of the Unions and Municipal Theater, 1945-60; Offices for Forestry Industries, 1958-60). The work of the Danish E. Asmussen (Järna, Rudolf Steiner Higher Institute, 1970) and R. Erskine was of great stimulus., in Sweden from 1939. The experimentation in the housing field is remarkable: from the complex of star houses by Sweden Backström and L. Reinius in Grönland (1946) to the complexes of Minneberg (1986, prog. Brunngergruppen) and Drottningen (1985, prog. B. Lindroos). The Swedish contribution to modern design of furniture, utensils etc. is still to be remembered. with the work of, among others, C. Malmsten, Sweden Palmqvist, K. Björquist, T. Ahlström and H. Ehrich.

● In the last decade of the 20th century. Swedish architecture has continued its development in the wake of a consolidated tradition, elaborating modern suggestions with the usual attention to the use of materials, for flexibility and functional clarity, for the interactions between building and environment. Significant in this sense is the new district built in 2001 in Malmö for the Bo01 City of Tomorrow exhibition based on the principles of bio-architecture. In addition to the works of well-known studios such as Heikkinen-Komonen Architects (Vuotalo cultural center and Lume Mediacenter in Helsinki, 2000), new influences from the international avant-gardes have enriched the formal vocabulary of young designers such as G. Wingårdh (Astra-Hässle research center in Gothenburg, 1996), J. Celsing, T. Sandell, A. Wilhelmson and the studio of M Claesson, E. Koivisto and O. Rune.

● Among the cultural institutions: in Stockholm, the Museum of Modern Art (Moderna Museet; new headquarters, 1998); the House of Sculpture (Skulpturens Hus, 1998, in the former factory of A. Nobel); Magasin 3, the largest private exhibition institution (since 1987); the Baltic art center (2000), an exhibition center for art, cinema and interactive media in Visby on the island of Gotland; the Rooseum in Malmö (1988, founded by the collector and financier F. Roos, in the renovated headquarters of the Malmö electricity company); the Norrköping museum.

Sweden Arts