The 1930s: colourists and Surrealists
The Gothenburg Colourists, the Halmstad Group and the public art of the folkhem.
In Gothenburg, pupils of Tor Bjurström and Birger Simonsson developed a glowing painting of colour: the Gothenburg Colourists, with Ivan Ivarson, Ragnar Sandberg, Åke Göransson and Inge Schiöler. Colour was everything – often in front of the landscapes of the west coast.
The Halmstad Group, formed in 1929 by six artists, took up Cubism and later Surrealism. Erik Olson and Esaias Thorén painted dream images that were unique in the Nordic countries.
The Sweden of the folkhem, the “people’s home”, wanted art for everyone. Public commissions produced murals, fountains and sculptures in squares and schools. Carl Milles’s Poseidon on Götaplatsen was unveiled in 1931.
- Valand and the Gothenburg Colourists
- The Halmstad Group and Surrealism
- Art in the buildings of the folkhem
- Carl Milles and Carl Eldh
- Women, the crisis years and the refugees
- The Stockholm Exhibition and functionalism
- Glass, porcelain and Swedish grace
- Close reading: Götaplatsen and Poseidon
- Surrealism in the Nordic countries and contacts abroad
- Carl Milles
- Tora Vega Holmström
- Bror Hjorth
- Ivan Ivarson
- Erik Olson
- Esaias Thorén
- Åke Göransson
- Ragnar Sandberg
- Josef Frank
- Carl Malmsten