Wonderful Colour

The Gothenburg Colourists clothed the West Coast and Gothenburg in scintil­lating colour. In the 1930s, their work was characterized by a power­fully expressive use of colour without counterpart in Sweden. Intense hues, bold brushwork, intimate motifs, and passionate visions have won artists such as Åke Göransson, Ivan Ivarson, Nils Nilsson, Karin Parrow, Ragnar Sandberg, and Inge Schiöler a place in the public’s heart.

The history of this vital artistic current, sparked by a few students at the Valand School of Art, is a success story. But it is also a story of tragedy, as several of the artists had mental illnesses and died young. In a series of essays, authors and scholars examine Romantic mythologizing around the movement, its critical reception, the artist’s role, and historiographical questions, as well as the role of the city itself and its galleries and dealers. The volume introduces an expanded gallery of Gothenburg Colourists along with works by their forerunners and successors and related colourists from Denmark and Norway.

Contributors: Kristoffer Arvidsson, Per Dahlström, Martin Gustavsson, Andrea Kollnitz, Lydia Sandgren, Patrik Steorn, Jeff Werner, Håkan Wettre, and Eva Zetterman.

Released in conjunction with the exhibition Wonderful Colour: Gothenburg Colourism in a New Light at the Gothenburg Museum of Art.

Also published in Swedish as Den underbara färgen – Göteborgskolorismen i nytt ljus.