Pia Erlandsson, 1961 | Abstract Watercolor painter

Pia Erlandsson is a professional Swedish painter best known for her expressive, ethereal human portraits primarily created using watercolors.

Born in southern Halland, she has been living and working out of Gothenburg, Sweden since 1986.

After completing her artistic training - notably studying under Kerstin Sandbaum between 1995 and 1999 - she committed to painting full-time in 2007.

Her work heavily explores human emotions and states of mind.

Swedish Art History and Sitemap

Swedish art refers to the visual arts produced in Sweden or by Swedish artists.

Sweden has existed as country for over 1000 years, and for times before this, as well as many subsequent periods, Swedish art is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia.

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.

Wilhelm von Gegerfelt | Post-Impressionist painter

Swedish painter Wilhelm von Gegerfelt (1844-1920) painted landscapes with motifs from Venice, Brittany, Swedish coastal landscapes and from Gotland in Sweden.

Gegerfelt studied at the Royal Danish Academy from 1861-1863, at the Royal Swedish Academy from 1864-1867, and thereafter in Düsseldorf until 1872.

He then went to Paris where he developed a new technique joining Alfred Wahlberg as one of the first Swedes to represent the Modern Breakthrough in Nordic art.

Johan Ericson | Landscape painter

Johan Erik Ericson (1849-1925) was a Swedish landscape painter.

He was born to Anders Eriksson, a woodcarver, and his wife Johanna, née Petersson. His father emigrated to America when he was only four.

From 1872 to 1878, he studied at the Royal Institute of Art, where his primary teacher was Per Daniel Holm.

This was followed by studies in France from 1878 to 1884, where he came under the influence of the Impressionists and served as an assistant in the studios of Alfred Wahlberg.

Skagen painters | Art History and Sitemap

The Skagen Painters (Danish: Skagensmalerne) were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century.

Skagen was a summer destination whose scenic nature, local milieu and social community attracted northern artists to paint en plein air, emulating the French Impressionists - though members of the Skagen colony were also influenced by Realist movements such as the Barbizon school.

They broke away from the rather rigid traditions of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, espousing the latest trends that they had learned in Paris.

Peder Severin Krøyer | Summer Evening at Skagen Beach - The Artist and his Wife, 1899 | Hirschsprung Collection

Christmas with Jenny Nyström

Jenny Eugenia Nyström (1854-1946) was a painter and illustrator mainly known as the creator of the Swedish image of the jultomte on Christmas cards and magazine covers, thus linking the Swedish version of Santa Claus to the gnomes and tomtar of Scandinavian folklore.

Her father was a school teacher and piano teacher, and also the cantor of the Kalmar Castle Church.

When Jenny Nyström was eight years old, the family moved to Gothenburg, where her father had found a better paying teaching job.

Hugo Salmson | Genre painter

Born in Stockholm, Hugo Fredrik Salmson (1843-1894) was a Swedish painter, known for figures and genre scenes.

He was the son of Fredrik Ludvig Salmson, a wholesaler, and his wife Maria Perlberg.

He initially studied business, but soon decided on an artistic career.

In 1862, he began his studies at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts where he was trained by Johan Christoffer Boklund.

Severin Nilsson | Genre painter

Johan Severin Nilsson (1846-1918) was a Swedish painter and photographer.

Nilsson was born in Asige Parish, Halland. His father was a blacksmith.

In 1865, at the age of eighteen, he enrolled as a student at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm; graduating in 1871.

While there, he and Ernst Josephson became good friends.