Ola Billgren
Covered by droit de suite
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"Slätt"
Signed Ola Billgren and dated -93 on verso. Oil on canvas 62 x 83 cm.
Provenance
Galleri Göran Engström, Stockholm.
Apoteksbolagets Konstförening, lottery.
Private Collection, Sweden.
More information
Den fotografiska närvaron följer som en röd tråd genom Ola Billgrens hela konstnärskap.
Under de avslutande åren av Ola Billgrens konstnärliga produktion återvänder han till de realistiskt skildrade motiven, målade efter fotografiska förebilder. Ofta utförda i flödande rött, varefter han med en bred rakel slätar ut färgen över bilden, med den ännu ej torkade färgmassan.
Den röda kulören får i undantagsfall sällskap av naturens egen gröna färg.
Det finns de som säger att Ola Billgren i sitt sena måleri hittade hem motivmässigt.
Auktionens målning visar ett skånskt landskap i rött och grönt.
Utan tvivel föreställer det en skånsk slätt från konstnärens barndomstrakter på Österlen.
Det var där Ola Billgren växte upp på 1940- och 1950-talet och började visa sina målningar på utställningar.
Artist
Ola Billgren was born in 1940 in Copenhagen but based his career in Sweden. Billgren was self-taught, having only been trained by his parents Hans and Grete Billgren. Ola worked within the mediums of graphic art, watercolour, collage, photography, film, and scenography. He was also an author and culture critic. Known for his versatility, Billgren cultivated a relationship between art and reality in his work.
During the 1960s, he transitioned from abstract expressionism to photographic realism. Over time, his paintings evolved into a fusion of abstract and photorealistic styles, resulting in romantic landscapes where he examined the interplay of light and color. Forms dissolved, and colors were reduced to monochrome, single-colored surfaces that were richly worked and varied.
In the late 1980s, he returned to urban environments in large cityscapes, often painted from a high perspective but maintaining the impressionistic approach seen in his landscapes. Ola Billgren's influence on recent decades of art has been significant. His work is represented in institutions such as Musée National d'art Moderne Centre George Pompidou in Paris and Moderna Museet in Stockholm.