To understand Scandi-art, you must bear in mind the area’s stormy history, its forbidding and austere landscapes and its inhabitants’ natural predilection for solitude. No wonder the early artists of Norway, Sweden and Denmark were generally intrepid explorers, too. Andrew Graham-Dixon starts by examining the epitome of Nordic angst – Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream – but he also muses on the chilling landscapes of Peder Balke, the existentialism of philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and the haunting misery of playwright Henrik Ibsen, as well as enthusing over Viking ships and churches that could come straight from a Brothers Grimm story. But it’s the effect of the harsh landscape that he keeps returning to, concluding that it is perhaps the most potent symbol of Norwegian art. “It’s their greatest museum: a vast open-air art gallery where all can commune with the mysteries of nature,” he says. Scandinavia - a land of extremes, on the edge of Europe. Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the extraordinary art to come out of the dark Norwegian soul, most famous for producing The Scream by Edvard Munch.
Hans Christian Andersen’s fable about the ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan reflects not only his rags-to-riches experiences but also the lives of many of Denmark’s artists. Andrew Graham-Dixon is in Denmark, officially the happiest nation on earth yet one possessing dark undertones about its identity. Here he discovers the paper-cut art of Andersen, the classical sculpture of Thorvaldsen, the graphic nudes of Eckersberg, Jerichau-Bauman’s blatantly jingoistic portrait of Mother Denmark and Hammershoi’s brooding, introverted paintings. “Denmark is a mix of light and dark – bright ideals, harsh disappointment,” he concludes. But then there’s also the optimistically bright, miniature world of Legoland. Denmark emerges from modest beginnings to become one of the greatest powers and arbiters of taste in northern Europe, a story of incredible transformation befitting the homeland of the greatest fairytale spinner of them all, Hans Christian Anderson, creator of The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor's New Clothes.
Prior to the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930 (a showcase of design and architecture), Swedish art reflected the typical Nordic anxieties and introspection that we’ve seen throughout the series. There were turbulent seascapes, gloomy landscapes and melancholy portraits. But, as Andrew Graham-Dixon points out, because Sweden didn’t participate in the First World War its post-war art was “softer and more benign than that of its counterparts in Italy, Germany and France”. Those with a passing acquaintance with Ikea will recognise its links to the functionalist aesthetic and Carl Larsson’s charming paintings of family life, while we also learn the origins of Scandi-noir drama. Andrew arrives in Sweden - home of IKEA and a tradition of brilliant furniture design stretching back to the early years of the 20th century. Sweden has made its modern democratic mission one of comfort and civilised living for the masses - but has it got there?
