From Björn Springfeldt's Collection

Björn Springfeldt began his career studying art history and theoretical philosophy in Lund before taking up a temporary post at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1968, where he remained for more than twenty years. From 1986 to 1989, he served as Director of Malmö Konsthall before assuming the role of Director of Moderna Museet in Stockholm. During this period (1989–1995), plans were developed for the museum’s new building on Skeppsholmen, and from 1994 until his departure, the museum operated from temporary premises in the former tram depots in Vasastan. As museum director, he organised exhibitions featuring artists such as Per Kirkeby, Lee Jaffe, Kiki Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe and Bill Viola. The final exhibition in the museum’s old premises was a major retrospective of the German painter Gerhard Richter.

In 1995, Björn Springfeldt was appointed Cultural Counsellor at the Swedish Embassy in Germany, initially based in Bonn and later in Berlin, where he greatly enjoyed his time and remained for five years. Following his years in Germany, Springfeldt worked as a consultant on public art commissions for the municipality of Värmdö, contributing among other projects to the new municipal building inaugurated in 2005. He later became Chairman of the Värmdö Council for Aesthetic Affairs.

Between 2008 and 2017, he served as Chairman of the Nordic Watercolour Museum Foundation in Skärhamn, Tjörn, and was also a member of the museum board of the Amos Anderson Art Museum in Helsinki. He concluded his professional career as Chairman of SAK – the Swedish General Art Association from 2015 to 2017. Björn Springfeldt’s profound commitment to contemporary art has influenced both artists and institutions over the years. The wider public has also benefited from his discerning eye and open-minded approach through the public artworks he helped initiate, encountered daily in shared spaces.

Throughout his life, Björn Springfeldt continued to “follow in the artists’ footsteps” by visiting their studios and the student ateliers of art schools such as Gerlesborg School of Fine Art in Bohuslän and Pernby School of Painting in Stockholm. Explore the full auction and place your bid today.

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