Post by Grubb.
And I don’t mean Ingrid, or Ingmar, but Oskar, the painter. His was the biggest collection at the Thiel Gallery that we traveled to today. On the outskirts of Stockholm past the American Embassy and expansive green equestrian grounds, the Thiel Gallery is nestled among expensive villas overlooking an undeveloped stretch of coastline.
The gallery didn’t open until noon, so we had plenty of time to map out the bus route and linger among the lilacs.
Oskar was born in 1879 and died in 1961. He had a long career as an artist, so his work dominates the second floor of the gallery. He was all about peaceful landscapes, mostly Scandinavian, with some Mediterranean thrown in. He loved birch trees and working with watercolors. There’s a Japanese quality to his paintings, a stillness to his slice of nature.
It was a treat being exposed to a mellow Scandinavian! But of course it couldn’t last. First there was the sculpture at a turn in the hallway alerting us to the work ahead.
Some not-so-mellow Munch woodcuts and a bust of a disturbed Strindberg.
Outside there were some worried Scandinavians imitating art.
