Ei yhteyttä palvelimeen

Dick Bengtsson at Contemporary Art & Design


Dick Bengtsson, 'Stockhus'

'Stockhus' hung at Galleri Karlsson next to a mirrored version of the painting. Both works stood out in the exhibition as they did not contain any swastikas, yet there is something elusive and suspended about them. A solitary log house stands on a hill with a dark spruce forest in the background. The pan has a dark patina that the artist often applied to his paintings by working the painted surface with a hot iron. The result is that the landscape is stripped of all traces of rural idyll. At the same time, Bengtsson's skilful surface treatment enriches the image with a visual beauty freed from all forms of pretension.
› Signed Dick Bengtsson and dated -69. Oil on panel 51 x 72 cm including frame. Plastic toy shovel, length 18 cm.


In front of a work by Dick Bengtsson, one is never really sure of the meaning of the different components. His art is full of mystery and asks more questions than it answers. In his multi-layered world, one is forced to challenge one's values and associations; it demands the viewer's full attention. It is difficult to separate truth from fantasy and he has said that 'My pictures are very much about the falsification of reality, about the idyll that is not what it appears to be'.

The exhibition at Galleri Karlsson provoked many reactions and contributed to Dick Bengtsson's position as one of our country's most important and influential artists. With his critique of modernism's overconfidence in an unambiguous truth, he was an early forerunner of postmodernism. Never accepting that there is only one correct mode of interpretation, his art posed previously unaddressed questions. For a long time, Bengtsson combined his painting with work at the post office and he did not have a studio, but most of his works are made on his own kitchen floor. His fellow artists appreciated his paintings and a circle of collectors and museum people realised his greatness already during his short lifetime; he has been referred to as an 'artist's artist' despite having several high-profile exhibitions. Still today we see clear traces of his influence in Swedish contemporary art.



The work will be sold at Contemporary Art & Design.
Estimate 300 000 - 400 000 SEK

Viewing: April 19 – 23, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Open: weekdays 11 am – 6 pm, weekends 11 am – 4 pm
Live auction: April 24 – 25, Arsenalsgatan 2, Stockholm

To the work
Read more about Contemporary Art & Design and see the full catalogue



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