Bengt LINDSTRÖM
(1925-2008)
The Nordic shaman of contemporary art
“Painting is a cry. An instinct. A necessity.”
Why is it fascinating?
He paints with his guts. He is raw instinct from the cold.
Influenced by Scandinavian mythology and trained in the expressionist tradition, which he twists with an almost shamanic energy, he paints as if questioning ancestors, as if invoking something invisible.
He carries in his painting the force of the elements, the collective memory of ancient peoples. Distorted faces, totemic creatures, wild forms that spring forth like a trance.
A very contemporary work
He is an oracle-painter, possessed by a spirit somewhere between cave art and contemporary expressionism. A raw and sacred work, yet contemporary.
A powerful, immediate, unpretentious gesture. Dense, expressive, sometimes violent, always organic canvases that bring to mind a mix of Basquiat, art brut, and sacred graffiti.
An art that connects the individual to something greater than themselves, that speaks to the essence of the human being, of the soul, of memory, and of time.
Why is it presented here?
Because Lindström is an unclassifiable, magnetic Swedish painter. A visceral, free painting.
Because his work combines instinct, memory, and matter. He defines himself as a "painter of the inner self."
Because it has a real cult following in Scandinavia, Germany and among alternative collectors.
Because his work is often associated with that of the great names of abstract expressionism.
Where to see it?
- Moderna Museet, Stockholm
- National Museum, Stockholm
- Norrköpings Konstmuseum (Sweden)
- Pompidou Center, Paris
- Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris