Esaias Thorén was one of the the six Swedish artists who decided to form the Halmstad Group in 1929. They had been schooled during the 1920´s in Berlin and Paris - the metropolises of avant-garde. Inspired by Fernand Léger, Alexander Archipenko, Ameédée Ozenfant and others, they had developed their own personal style. The mechanical engineer Egon Östlund supported the young artists as the returned to Sweden. Östlund was a patron of the arts, collector, amateur painter and an influential profile in the Halmstad cultural society. On his initiative the group was formed during a time of upheaval. Political and economic factors influenced the art in Europe. The members of the Halmstad Group had explored cubism and constructivism in the 20s and were to be pioneers in surrealism in Sweden in the 1930s.
The painting offered at this auction is a still life with references to the Purist philosophy of Ozenfant and the teachings of Léger. The objects are devoid of any detail, reduced to aesthetically pleasing shapes and forms. The painting is dated 1929, the important year of the formation the Halmstad Group. Esaias Thorén was on the verge of developing his surrealistic imagery and the explorations of the human inner world - that would become the focus of the group in the 1930s.