Peter Dahl

I Peter Dahls måleri är kulturhistorien ständigt närvarande. Han inspirerades inledningsvis av bland annat Francis Bacons expressionism och under 1980-talet kom berättelserna från Carl Michael Bellmans Fredmans Epistlar att bli dominerande i Peter Dahls konstnärskap.

Peter Dahl är ofta förknippad med motiv från krogens värld och naturligtvis med sina målningar och litografier från nämnda "Fredmans epistlar". I auktionens akvarell återger Peter Dahl för ovanlighetens skull en oerhört kraftig havsvåg. Peter Dahls akvarell har påtagliga och tydliga referenser till japanske konstnären Katsushika Hokusais världsberömda träsnitt, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa” från 1831. (Hokusais skildring av en enorm havsvåg, framför berget Fuji, anses vara världens mest kända japanska konstverk.)

Peter Dahl var ursprungligen norsk medborgare, men tilldelades 2006 den svenska regeringens förtjänstmedalj Illis quorum för sitt "mångåriga och omfattande samt färgstarka och respektlösa konstnärskap, en bildkonstens Bellman i nutid”.

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.