Max Walter Svanberg was perhaps Sweden’s foremost surrealist. He began his artistic career as an advertising artist in Malmö, followed by studies at Skånska målarskolan in 1931 and Otte Skölds målarskola in 1933. He suffered a personal catastrophe in 1934 when he contracted severe polio, and it was not until a year later that he was able to leave hospital, with his left arm and part of his left leg rendered unusable.

Under the influence of surrealism, Max Walter Svanberg developed a highly personal visual language expressed through exotic, iridescent images, sometimes charged with erotic tension, executed in watercolour, gouache or tempera.

Together with C.O. Hultén, Endre Nemes and Anja Yunkers, Max Walter Svanberg formed the artists’ group Minotaur in 1943. In 1946, he founded the surrealist-oriented artists’ group Imaginisterna, initially together with C.O. Hultén and Anders Österlin. The group attracted international attention.

At the beginning of the 1950s, Svanberg achieved an international breakthrough through his participation in Exposition des Peintures Internationales Contemporaines and The Third Tokyo Independent Art Exhibition in 1951. He participated in the international surrealist exhibitions Exposition internationale du Surréalisme at Galerie Daniel Cordier in Paris in 1959–1960, Surrealist Intrusion in the Enchanters' Domain at D´Arcy Galleries in New York in 1960–1961 and Mostra Internazionale del Surrealismo at Galleria Schwarz in Milan in 1961. He also took part in Salon de Mai at Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris from 1961 to 1967, and at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1967. He was acclaimed by André Breton and other leading international surrealists.

Max Walter Svanberg is represented in, among others, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the British Museum in London, Tate Gallery in London, Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Norrköpings konstmuseum, Göteborgs konstmuseum, Helsingborgs museum, Länsmuseet Gävleborg, Hallands kulturhistoriska museum, Kungliga biblioteket and Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.