When Evert Lundquist made his breakthrough as a neo-expressionist in 1950, he had already been active for 30 years. He began working in the spirit of New Objectivity in the 1920s, followed by the powerful Expressionism of the 1930s, influenced by James Ensor. The giants of art history, such as Rembrandt, Chardin and van Gogh, led him towards a thickly applied style of painting in which lines, forms and colours emerge simultaneously. He once said: “I grope my way until I reach the point where it begins to smoulder with heat.” Lundquist depicted unassuming subjects—a spade, a light, a ladder, a tree—but often women too. His motifs acquire their intensity through strongly simplified forms, almost dissolved by masses of colour.

Together with Staffan Hallström, Olle Nyman, Torsten Renqvist, Sixten Lundbom and Roland Kempe, Evert Lundquist belonged to the Saltsjö-Duvnäs group, one of the more significant artist groups Sweden has produced. They became friends while studying at the Royal Institute of Art and lived for several years in Saltsjö-Duvnäs during the 1940s. All achieved considerable success, not least Staffan Hallström and Olle Nyman, but Evert Lundquist most of all; he also exhibited extensively internationally.

Lundquist studied at Carl Wilhelmson’s School of Painting in 1924. That same year, he attended the Académie Julian in Paris before continuing his studies at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm under Gösta von Hennigs, Carl Wilhelmson and Albert Engström from 1925 to 1931. He himself became a professor at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm in 1960–1970.

Following his studies, Lundquist began working in a more Expressionist style, with affinities to Edvard Munch. With paint applied thickly, his works may appear to be the result of spontaneous painting, but in fact he worked slowly, waiting for the possibilities that could manifest themselves in the image.

Through his visionary yet challengingly simple painting, Lundquist became one of the most important artists of his generation. He represented Sweden at the São Paulo Biennial, where he won a prize, and was selected to participate in the Guggenheim International Award in New York in 1964, featuring the 100 best artists in the world. He also took part in the Dunn International at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Canada and at Tate Gallery in London. International museums acquired works by Evert Lundquist, and major international galleries wished to exhibit him, but after several years he decided to withdraw from the international art market. From 1953, he lived and worked in a white-rendered building at Drottningholm Palace. A few years before his death, he became completely blind, yet continued to paint until the very end. The house has been preserved as the Evert Lundquist Studio Museum.