AGDA HOLST. “Clouds”.

Oil on canvas 56 x 47 cm, including frame 68 x 60 cm. Signed Agda Holst

Exhibition label on verso with text: “No 39 Clouds”

Agda Holst (1886—1976) was one of the most significant Swedish modernists of the first half of the 20th century. Already at a young age, she applied to Paris, where from 1907 to 1912 she studied at the Académie Colarossi and at the Académie Matisse. In the international art metropolis, she came into close contact with contemporary avant-garde movements and got to know Swedish artists such as Tora Vega Holmström and Ellen Trotzig. Study trips to Munich, moreover, brought her into contact with the new German art and artists such as Wassily Kandinsky.

Holst's circle of subjects mainly includes portraits and still lifes, but landscapes also occupy an important place in her production. Her painting is characterized by a bold brushwork and a progressively freer, more expressive color treatment. Influences from both fauvism and cubism can be traced in her works, where the independent expressiveness of color and the simplification of form are given great space.

She was a central figure in the Scanian artist group Aura, where as the only woman she took an obvious and respected position. Her art attracted attention at exhibitions in Sweden as well as Denmark, and she gained recognition among both female and male colleagues.

In 1933 she achieved international success through participation in the Salon des Indépendants in Bordeaux, which was followed by further exhibitions, also in the United States. Contemporary appraisers highlighted her artistic integrity and independence. In retrospect, she has been highlighted as an artist who united international modernism with a personal and consistent stance — an artistry that clearly marks her place in the history of Swedish modernism.