Peter Dahl
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"Grön exteriör"
Diptych. Signed Peter Dahl and dated 1985. Canvas 200 x 300 cm.
Exhibitions
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, 26 December 1987 - 6 March 1988.
Östergötlands Länsmuseum, Linköping 13 March - 17 April 1988.
Lunds Konsthall 23 April - 5 June 1988.
Börstorps slott, Västergötland 12 June - 15 August 1988.
Kalmar Konstmuseum 15 October - 4 December 1988.
Sundsvalls Museum 10 December 1988 - 15 January 1989.
Ålands Museum, Mariehamn 6 February - 5 March 1989.
Ystads Museum 12 March - 16 April 1989.
Katrineholms Konsthall 23 April - 4 June 1989.
Nolhaga slott, Alingsås 6 September - 27 September 1989.
Älvsborgs Länsmuseum 15 October - 12 November 1989.
Gotlands Konstmuseum, Visby 21 November - 31 December 1989.
Uplands Konstmuseum, Uppsala 14 January - 11 February 1990.
Museet i Halmstad 25 February - 25 March 1990.
Dalarnas Museum, Falun 1 December - 31 December 1990.
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde 20 March - 24 May 1999.
Krapperups Konsthall 1 July - 23 July 2000.
Literature
Exhibition catalogue Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, 1987-88, p. 13.
Folke Edwards, "Peter Dahl", Stockholm, 1996, illustrated in colour p. 123.
More information
Peter Dahl was born in Norway in 1934. His family settled in Sweden at the outbreak of the war in 1939. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, and at Valand School of Fine Arts in Gothenburg. He was appointed as professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1975. Admired and celebrated by the public, Peter Dahl earned himself a reputation as an “enfant terrible” and rebel of society. He stands apart from many of his contemporaries in the use of oil paint as his preferred medium. His breakthrough came in the late 1970s during which time he became increasingly personal in his choice of subjects.
Both ”Grön interiör (green interior)” and ”Grön exteriör (green exterior)” are related to the autobiographical work ”Gröna rummet (The green room)”, dated 1981, where you see the artist, his best friend that has just passed away and his wife that he is breaking up from. It is a very personal and haunting interpretation of loss, sorrow and love. In ”Green exterior” the woman and part of the interior have moved out to the nature. She seems to be lonley, comforting herself with the bottle and yet at the same time she seems to be quite happy while daydreaming herself away. This is a recurrent theme in Peter Dahl’s oeuvre – ”You are not where your shoes are but where our dreams are.”
Artist
Peter Dahl is painter, printmaker, sculptor, and author. He was born in Oslo and came to Stockholm during the war years of the 1940s, studying at cadémie Libre in 1957 and then attended the Royal Institute of Art from 1958 to 1963 under the guidance of Lennart Rhode. He worked as a teacher at Gelesborg’s school during the 60s and 70s, and was the head professor of painting at Valand Art Academy in Gothenburg from 1975-79. Dahl paints in an expressive, realistic style with bright colours, sensual figure compositions, his art a vessel for his criticism towards upper class luxury and petty bourgeois environments. Influenced by the expressionism of Francis Bacon, he depicted the sequence of events in Medelsvensson's daydreams about "the sweet life" in the upper social group in a series of images. Over the years, Peter Dahl continued with thematic painting. From 1981 to 1984, he illustrated Fredman's Epistles in 87 pictures.
He is outgoing and often depicts his own life with a touch of self-irony. His work is rooted in Swedish tradition, often revisiting and renewing old themes. In recent years, his style has become softer and more sensual, with his dance and bacchanalian motifs taking on a Rococo-like quality. As a printmaker, Dahl is particularly known for his congenial illustrations of Bellman's "Fredman's Epistles." Peter Dahl is considered one of the great artists of our time, immensely productive and consistently popular.
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