Peter Dahl

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.”