Carl Milles

Carl Milles (1875–1955), widely regarded as the most outstanding Swedish sculptor of the 20th century, possessed from childhood an imaginative, dream-filled disposition that drew him more to art and nature than to formal studies. His early training in woodcarving and his subsequent studies at the Technical College in Stockholm laid the groundwork for a lifelong devotion to expressive form. A pivotal moment came in 1897, when a grant enabled him to travel to Paris. There he spent seven formative years, meeting Auguste Rodin—who became both friend and inspirational force—and encountering his future wife, the Austrian portrait painter Olga Granner. These Paris years shaped Milles’s vision, infusing his work with both classical depth and modern feeling.

From early on, the elements of water and air were fundamental fascinations for Milles, recurring throughout his oeuvre and finding their fullest expression in his fountains. He imagined these environments as his own personal seas—places where sculpted figures might rise weightlessly toward eternity. Mythological characters, particularly the sea god Triton, half-man and half-sea creature, became central motifs. Such figures allowed Milles to explore themes of freedom, motion, and transcendence, using the natural world as a poetic stage. This deep affinity with elemental forces later crystallized into some of his most celebrated works, including the famed Solglitter.

Created in 1917, Solglitter (“Sun Glitter”) emerged during a period when Milles’s forms grew increasingly airy and uplifted. The sculpture depicts a naiad riding forward on a dolphin, an image Milles had explored in earlier compositions such as the Susanna Fountain of 1916. Solglitter, however, is distinctly more liberated: the fluttering ornaments of the hair and the movement of the fins create a sense of buoyant motion that seems to defy gravity itself. In this work, Milles translates the shimmering reflection of sunlight on water into sculptural form, marrying mythological narrative with a lyrical interpretation of natural light. The theme of water-bound deities—tritons, nymphs, mermaids, dolphins, fish, and fantastical sea creatures—was particularly suited to Milles’s desire to express the “unbound,” and Solglitter stands as one of his own declared favorites. Today, a version of Solglitter can be seen in the courtyard of the building designed in 1940 by Ivar Tengbom for the Swedish Institute in Rome.

By 1907, Carl and Olga Milles had established their home on the island of Lidingö near Stockholm. Millesgården, their residence, became both a creative sanctuary and an evolving sculptural park—now an open-air museum dedicated to Milles’s life and work. From this setting, the couple embarked on numerous journeys during the 1920s, traveling widely throughout Sweden and abroad. Milles’s reputation flourished during these years; he became one of the most sought-after sculptors in Scandinavia, receiving major commissions and profoundly influencing a rising generation of artists through his professorship at the Art College in Stockholm.

Milles achieved international recognition in 1927, when a landmark exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London introduced his work to a broader audience. Subsequent exhibitions in major German cities in 1928 further established his global presence. By 1931, Carl and Olga had relocated to the United States, where Milles accepted a professorship at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, near Detroit. Their two decades in America were among the most productive of his career, yielding monumental works such as The Meeting of the Rivers in St. Louis and The Resurrection in Washington, D.C. Within this broader arc of achievement, Solglitter remains a quintessential embodiment of Milles’s vision—an artistic union of myth, movement, and the elemental forces that captivated him throughout his life.

Photo: Sunglitter, The Swedish Institute in Rome