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Lot Essay
Eric Olson was a member of the Halmstadgruppen, a group of six Swedish painters including the brothers Axel and Eric Olson, their cousin Waldemar Lorentzon, Sven Jonson, Stellan Mörner and Theodor Esaias Thorén. All had an association with Halmstad, on the West coast of Sweden. By 1919 the members had been in contact with Egon Östlund, a later supporter of the Halmstad group, through whom they became familiar with the work of Gösta Adrian-Nilsson who had an important early influence, along side Cubism and Neo-plasticism which is particularly evident in the present work, Mork Diagonal, Composition F.
It was not until the early 1930s that the artists began to paint in a Surrealist style such as can be seen in Olson's The Day through the Night of 1935 currently in the Moderna Museet in Stockholm and in Gryning - Variation (lot 113). Naturally they were influenced by Salvador Dalí and Yves Tanguy, but gradually they began to experiment and develop in different directions although remaining the most significant exponents of Surrealism in Sweden and took part in various Surrealist exhibitions in Europe in the 1930s.
It was not until the early 1930s that the artists began to paint in a Surrealist style such as can be seen in Olson's The Day through the Night of 1935 currently in the Moderna Museet in Stockholm and in Gryning - Variation (lot 113). Naturally they were influenced by Salvador Dalí and Yves Tanguy, but gradually they began to experiment and develop in different directions although remaining the most significant exponents of Surrealism in Sweden and took part in various Surrealist exhibitions in Europe in the 1930s.