Lena Cronqvist
Covered by droit de suite
Image rights
The artworks in this database are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the permission of the rights holders. The artworks are reproduced in this database with a license from Bildupphovsrätt.
For condition report contact specialist
"Självporträtt i rosa"
Signed Lena Cronqvist on verso. Canvas 157 x 117 cm.
Provenance
Lars Bohman Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden.
Exhibitions
Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden, "Lena Cronqvist", 12 October 2013 - 6 January 2014.
Lars Bohman Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden, 14 January - 19 February 2006.
More information
Ever since her debut in 1965 at Galerie Pierre in Stockholm, Lena Cronqvist has fascinated and moved people with her strong depictions of what it means to be human. Her paintings leave nobody unmoved. The pictures gnaw and chafe at you, and maybe it’s because we do not instinctively know how to relate to them that they stay with us long after we have viewed them. Her work incorporates both the tragic and the comic, and few artists manage to balance these opposite poles on a knife edge as well as Lena Cronqvist. Nor is the fact that the woman in the painting bears a resemblance to the artist herself so remarkable; using yourself as a model is simple, because the model is always available. Individual experience and the private sphere provide Lena Cronqvist with her inexhaustible source of inspiration. As an artist, she has painted her way through life’s ups and downs, arriving at something deeply human thanks to her own experiences. We encounter our own dreams and apprehensions in her work; we encounter memories, hopes and fears. But above all we encounter the lust for life.
Artist
Lena Cronqvist was one of Sweden’s most significant and influential artists, with a career spanning more than five decades. Born in Karlstad and educated at the Bristol School of Art in England as well as the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, she developed a style of painting where technical precision met intense emotional depth. Through her raw and emotionally charged imagery, she explored the paradoxes of motherhood, the shadows of childhood, and the relentless flow of time. Inspired by modernism and Edvard Munch, she transformed the personal into universal stories filled with deep psychological presence and power. As a painter, printmaker, and sculptor, she moved effortlessly between artistic forms, with each work marked by strong emotion and meticulous craftsmanship. Her interpretation of Jan van Eyck’s "The Arnolfini Portrait" in "Trolovningen"(1974/75) became a milestone when it sold at Bukowski's auction Vår Contemporary 2016 for over 11 million SEK - the highest amount ever paid for a work by a living Swedish artist at the time. Lena Cronqvist’s art is a bold and powerful voice that continues to move, challenge, and inspire. Her legacy lives on - boundless and timeless - reminding us of art’s ability to reach into the depths of the human experience.
Read more