Gittan Jönsson recently had a major and widely acclaimed retrospective at Dunkers Kulturhus in Helsingborg, held from March to September 2026. The exhibition offered visitors the opportunity to experience her depictions of everyday life and feminism through both sculpture and painting. Spanning more than six decades, Jönsson’s artistic practice is characterised by recurring themes of power structures and social relationships. Her works remain as distinctive and compelling as ever, while addressing issues that are strikingly relevant today. In her art, the personal becomes political. Drawing on her own everyday experiences, she portrays contemporary society and engages in a dialogue with art history, the present and women’s history through her paintings.

Tiden och rummet (Time and Space) was acquired by its current owner at Jönsson’s debut exhibition at Galleri Händer in Stockholm in 1978. The exhibition also featured three of her major seminal works: Diskkasterskan (The Dishwasher), Självporträtt (Self-Portrait) and Den själviska modern (The Selfish Mother). All three paintings were highly significant in the Swedish art scene of the 1970s and have since come to occupy an important place in Swedish art history. The second half of the 1970s was a period during which Jönsson devoted considerable time to family life, and several of her most significant works were created during these years.

Her artistic practice takes its starting point in lived experience – in family life, everyday moments, travel and encounters with other people. Personal experiences and humour intertwine in a visual world where stories and perspectives converge. With a keen eye for power structures and social injustices, she often brings to the fore women’s experiences and struggles. In her work, different narratives intertwine, forging new connections across time and space.

In the painting offered at auction, the scene is unfolding before us, set within a meticulously rendered interior featuring marbled walls and an intricate floor pattern. But who is the black-clad figure pressing her ear against the wall? A mistress, perhaps? Or does she represent jealousy, a dark shadow cast over the relationship? The small painting on the wall, depicting a traditional nursery scene, shows a guardian angel watching over two children as they cross a dangerous bridge. The motif might symbolise the young woman’s transition from happiness to sorrow, depending on what the man is telling her at that very moment. Alternatively, it could represent the passage from the happy innocence of childhood to adulthood, when a woman must learn to navigate a world fraught with danger.

Gittan Jönsson’s works are held in several major collections, including Moderna Museet, Nationalmuseum, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Helsingborgs Museum, Malmö Konstmuseum, Ystads Konstmuseum and Eskilstuna Konstmuseum.