Aalto and Nordic modernism
Nordic architects gave modernism a softer tone, with brick, timber, daylight and respect for the landscape. Alvar Aalto became one of the great architects of the 20th century.
Aalto’s sanatorium at Paimio, completed in 1933, and the library in Viipuri, today Vyborg in Russia, of 1935 made him famous throughout Europe. The Villa Mairea of 1939 and the town hall at Säynätsalo of 1952 show how he united modernism and nature.
In Denmark Arne Jacobsen designed everything from petrol stations to the SAS Royal Hotel, and Louisiana at Humlebæk, opened in 1958 and designed by Jørgen Bo and Vilhelm Wohlert, unites art, architecture and landscape. Jørn Utzon won the competition for the Sydney Opera House in 1957.