No 483, Sigrid Hjertén ”Röd båt - utsikt från ateljén mot Stadsgårdskajen, Stockholm” (detail).

Students of Matisse – the avant-garde of Modernism

Modern Art + Design. Viewing: 17–21 May. Open: Mon–Fri 11–18, Sat–Sun kl 11–17. Sale: 22 May start 12.00 CEST.
Address: Bukowskis, Berzelii Park 1 in Stockholm. Read more about the auction here >

When Isaac Grünewald, Sigrid Hjertén, Einar Jolin, Leander Engström and Nils Dardel, among others, travelled to Paris in the early 20th century to study with Henri Matisse, they changed Swedish art for ever. The artistic ideals of an earlier age were overturned and a new chapter of art history was written. The importance of Matisse is often emphasised, hence the term “students of Matisse”, but the art and theories of Cézanne were at least equally significant.

The first exhibitions at Salon Joël on Drottninggatan in Stockholm in the early 1910s were greeted with incomprehension and criticism. It was not until the major Expressionist exhibition at Liljevalchs in 1918 that modern art was fully accepted by critics and audiences.

This auction contains several works from this important and ground-breaking period.