"Improvisation"
Signed E.Thorén and dated 1938. Canvas 45 x 55 cm.
Owned by the Danish surrealist Wilhelm Freddie.
Thence in the collection of professor Marcus Diamant. Thence by descent to the current owner.
Norrköpings konstmuseum, "Halmstadgruppens 30-tal, 27 September - 16 November 1986.
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, "Halmstadgruppen 60 år", 1989.
Viveka Bosson, "Hamstadgruppen. A force in 20th century Swedish art", 2009, illustration nr. 6.
Pontus Hultén m.fl., "Halmstadgruppen 50 år", Stiftelsen Halmstadgruppen, 1978/79, p.193.
Folke Holmér, Erik Lindegren, Egon Östlund, "Halmstadgruppen", Rabén & Sjögren, Stockholm, 1947, illustration no 97.
"The painting is a frozen image of a woman who has stiffened into a Magritte-like cloud cube. The shell - a symbol of eternity - crumbles in her hair. The egg, a symbol for life, Thorén has wittily turned into a boiled egg in an eggcup. The painting is a surrealistic - and slightly ironic - portrait of the painter's first wife, Greta, who is tragically disappearing from his life."
From: Viveka Bosson, "Hamstadgruppen. A force in 20th century Swedish art", 2009.