Olle Olsson-Hagalund was a Swedish painter and graphic artist celebrated for his vivid, naïve depictions of everyday life in the Stockholm suburb of Hagalund. Born in 1904, he developed a distinctive, folk-art-inspired style characterised by bold colours, flattened perspectives and a playful attention to domestic and urban details. His paintings brim with affection for his surroundings—row houses, local residents and whimsical interior scenes—rendered with warmth, humour and unmistakable charm.
"Toboggan run", clubbed for 24 947 GBP at Stockholms Auktionsverk.
A Painter of People and Place
Olsson’s works offer an intimate portrait of 20th-century life in a fast-changing Sweden, seen through the lens of Hagalund’s working-class environment. Rather than romanticise, he celebrated the ordinary—washing on the line, cats on windowsills, bicycles leaning against walls. His compositions, although simplified, reveal a sharp eye for pattern and structure. He also created woodcuts and lithographs in a similar, folk-like idiom. Deeply rooted in his neighbourhood, Olsson often included autobiographical elements in his works, blending personal narrative with local observation.
"Model in Green Plush Sofa II"
Recognition and Legacy
Though largely self-taught, Olsson gained widespread recognition during his lifetime. He exhibited regularly from the 1940s onward, and his home in Hagalund became both a studio and a local landmark—later preserved as a museum. Today, Olsson is considered a leading figure in Swedish naïvist art, and his work continues to resonate for its sincerity, distinct visual language and affectionate documentation of a disappearing way of life.