Bukowskis presents Ivan Aguéli at Important Winter Sale

"Landskap, Gotlandskusten"

It was during his first stay on the Swedish island of Gotland in 1889 that Ivan Aguéli decided to become an artist. He discovered the unique and distinct landscape unlike anything else in Sweden. Aguéli returned to his beloved Gotland in the late summer and autumn of 1892, where he created several delicate landscape paintings, including the current painting "Landscape, coast of Gotland". In the foreground, the terrain is hilly with low trees and bushes in yellow, rust-brown, and green tones. In the middle ground, the water is depicted in bluish-violet tones. The sky on the horizon shifts in shades of blue to light pink.

Aguéli was born in the small town of Sala but spent most of his life abroad - Europe and North Africa attracted the restless traveler. His work includes landscapes from France, India, Egypt, and Spain. Aguéli was a globetrotter, a seeker, and a boundary-crosser - in painting as well as in religion and philosophy. He alternated between living in Paris and Egypt and eventually settled in Spain, where he tragically died in a traffic accident at the age of 48 in 1917.

"Höstlig Slätt"

After deciding to become an artist during a visit to Gotland in 1889, Ivan Aguéli traveled to Paris for the first time in the spring of 1890. The purpose of the trip was to study painting, and once there, Aguéli sought out Émile Bernard, who taught the theories behind the recently established style of Synthetism. This new school of art, developed by Bernard and other artists, including Paul Gauguin, in Pont-Aven, Brittany, during the last decade of the 19th century, advocated for artists to synthesize their visual impressions and paint from memory rather than making a direct representation of the subject. The results often consisted of paintings with large, clean colour areas surrounded by black outlines.

In 1890s Paris, Aguéli was also inspired by Symbolism, but his interest in Eastern philosophy and religion led to studies in Oriental languages and non-European art. In 1894, Aguéli traveled to Egypt, where Bernard had moved earlier. His fascination with North African culture and Eastern philosophy deepened. He first stayed outside Alexandria and later in Cairo. In 1898, he converted to Islam and adopted the name Abdalhadi, meaning servant of the guide. Over a ten-year period, he painted almost nothing, instead delving even further into religion and language.

"Egyptiskt landskap"

Ivan Aguéli's unique and groundbreaking artistic work was only recognized in Sweden after his death. In 1917, the artist died in a railway accident in Barcelona at the age of 48. He spent a significant portion of his life living abroad, and at the time of the accident, his paintings were scattered around the world. In 1920, artists Prins Eugen, Richard Bergh, and Carl Wilhelmson collected 200 of his works, and 136 of them were exhibited at the Konstnärsförbundets AB Konstverk sales venue on Strandvägen in Stockholm. This was the first major exhibition of his artistic career and served as an important introduction to Aguéli in Sweden. He was one of the great innovators in Swedish art during the early 20th century, and his art looked ahead to modernism. Small-scale landscape painting became one of his trademarks and is often characterized by a cool and subdued palette, an exciting interplay of color fields, and a strong presence of sunlight.

To be sold at Important Winter Sale

Estimate 275 000 - 300 000 SEK

To the work