Gösta Adrian-Nilsson
From The Arabian Nights
Signed GAN. Executed in Stockholm in 1918. Watercolour, gold colour and pencil on paper 30 x 22 cm.
Provenance
Originally in the collection of Consul Hugo Blom, Norrköping, Sweden.
Subsequently as a gift within the family.
Private collection.
Literature
”Konst i svenska hem”, vol. II, No 7, catalogued p. 573 under collection 979: ”Konsul Hugo Blom, Norra Strömgatan 23, Norrköping".
More information
On verso: Letter from Gösta Adrian-Nilsson, dated Stockholm September 5 1918.
Designer
Gösta Adrian-Nilsson is most notable as a visual artist, and he is a pioneer of Swedish modernism. He studied at the Tekniske Selskabs Skole in Copenhagen and later for Johan Rohde at Zahrtmann’s school in Copenhagen. As an avant-gardist, Nilsson was constantly searching for new influences. In Berlin, he was influenced by the circle around the radical magazine Der Sturm, through Kandinsky and och Franz Marc. In Paris through Fernand Legér and the artists in his circle. GAN was an eclectic in the positive sense of the word. He took the the artist styles of the 1900s and created new impressions. Symbolism, cubism, futurism, expressionism, constructivim and Theosophy were the colours occupying his internal pallet. He had a sharp eye for the masculine and his painting was often energized by the vitality of modern technology, vibrant eroticism, and echoes of tyrants. No other Swedish modern artist exhibits such a unique style.
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