ARNE HALLÉN. Visby ringwall, not signed, attributed to Arne Hallén on verso and note about year 1904.

Frame dimensions: 50 x 67 cm.
Image dimensions: 35 x 51 cm.

Here is an unusual and early painting attributed to Arne Hallén with the motif Visby ringwall. The motif is the Gotland ring wall in evening light, rendered in warm earth tones against a golden sky. The basic shapes of the towers emerge with simple but monumental power, and the foreground with the greenery contrasts with the austerity of the walls. The brushwork is partly naïve but shows an aspiration for volume, structure and mood — qualities that would come to characterize Hallén's later artistry in graphics and sculptural form.

On the back of the painting is a note with the dating 1904. If this data is correct, Hallén would have been only 14 years old, making the dating doubtful. Regardless of whether the year is correct, it is clear that the painting belongs to an early period in the artist's development and a fine example of modern painting around the turn of the century.

Arne Hallén (1890—1974) was a Swedish sculptor and graphic artist, active in the first half of the 20th century. He was born in Stockholm as the son of composer Johan Andreas Hallén and Clara Albertina Constantia Söderberg.

Hallén trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm 1907—1912 and at Axel Tallberg's etching school, where he immersed himself in graphic techniques. Study trips to Paris in 1913—1914 and to Italy in 1920 contributed to his artistic development and gave him impulses from contemporary European art.

As a graphic artist, he worked mainly with figure and landscape motifs in various printing techniques, and he regularly participated in exhibitions with the Graphic Society both in Sweden and internationally. He also participated in the Baltic Exhibition in Malmö in 1914, in the exhibitions of the Swedish General Art Association and the Swedish Artists' Association, and in presentations of Swedish art at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen and at Valand-Chalmers in Gothenburg.

Hallén was also active as a sculptor, creating reliefs, figural compositions and portrait busts. Among his most noted works is the medallion of the physician and neurologist Salomon Henschen. His stained glass painting in Solna Church, dedicated to the memory of Johan Olof Wallin, is also visible in public.

His work is represented in significant collections such as Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Gothenburg Museum of Art and Västerås Konstföreningen's art gallery.