Greta Gerell - an artistry

Greta Gerell – A Forgotten Modernist in the Poetics of Stillness

Stockholms Auktionsverk is pleased to present a significant collection of works by the Swedish modernist Greta Gerell (1898–1982) – an artist whose oeuvre bears traces of both tradition and modernity, often with a quietly profound depth. This collection offers a rare opportunity to gain a comprehensive view of an artistic practice that today deserves far wider recognition.

From an early age, Greta Gerell showed a strong drive for artistic expression – painting, drawing, and modeling as a child. At just 15, she became the youngest student ever accepted to evening courses at Althin’s Painting School, and only two years later, at 17, she was admitted to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm – a year before the official age limit. Between 1915 and 1920 her artistic identity was shaped by the modern currents influencing art education at the time. After her studies, she traveled extensively, including to France, where she encountered the southern light and colors that would become central elements in her painting. Works from this period reveal clear influences from both Impressionism and the emerging Cubism.

Her art is marked by a distinctive stillness and restrained lyricism. This is true of her portraits – often of women and children – as well as her interiors and landscapes. Regardless of subject, there is a tangible presence, a kind of silent intensity, that recalls both Nordic classicism and French intimists such as Bonnard. There is also a quiet realism that, over the years, developed into a simplification and synthesis of her motifs. The colors are often muted yet precise, the compositions balanced but never static. It is painting that invites contemplation rather than seeking attention – a kind of artistic integrity that feels increasingly relevant in our own time.

Gerell’s production reflects an artist who consistently followed her own path. She exhibited regularly during her lifetime, both in Sweden and abroad, yet remained relatively outside the dominant narratives of major art institutions. Perhaps for that very reason, this collection feels especially important – it offers a broader, more unified view of an artistic career otherwise often seen only in fragments.

Many of the works in the collection testify to her intimate relationship with everyday life – capturing people at rest, rooms in silence, landscapes in transition. At the same time, there is a modern awareness in her brushwork, a steady eye for the effects of light and the rhythm of space.

This auction offers not only the chance to acquire individual works, but also the opportunity to rediscover – and re-evaluate – Greta Gerell’s place in Swedish art history. At a time when interest in female artists of the early 20th century is growing, her work appears both relevant and deeply personal.