Tor Bjurström

Director Hjalmar Gabrielson's art collection, Långedrag.
The painting marked on verso H.G.5. (Hjalmar Gabrielson's art archive number)

In 1908, Tor Bjurström studied for Henri Matisse. Returning home in 1909, Bjurström made his debut with the group "De unga". This group of artists and their first exhibition is usually regarded as the breakthrough of modernism in Sweden. In their art, they showed a new expressive and colorful painting that gained great importance for the development of "Gothenburg colorism". The auction's work is an early painting by Tor Bjurström, probably made during the 1920s.

Hjalmar Gabrielson (1876-1949) was an art collector and patron in Gothenburg, who actively sought out and supported young modern artists, from Sweden and the rest of Europe. During the years 1920-1929, Tor Bjurström was a teacher at Valand in Gothenburg. Bjurström and Gabrielson probably kept in touch during these years. Tor Bjurström and his students - including Ivan Ivarson, Ragnar Sandberg, Inge Schiöler and Åke Göransson - came to be known as the Gothenburg colorists and are considered by critics to be a completely new direction in Swedish 20th century painting.

Parts of Hjalmar Gabrielson's art collection were exhibited on several occasions, including at the Valand House in Gothenburg in 1923.
In 1949, the same year that Gabrielson died, his art collection was shown at the Gothenburg Art Museum.
Hjalmar Gabrielson's then famous collection of artist self-portraits is today preserved at the Gothenburg Art Museum. The rest of the art collection was split and sold to collectors around the world.