Gösta Adrian-Nilsson

In a radio interview from 1959, GAN himself tells the story of how, during an evening walk in 1918, he stopped in front of Lund Cathedral and was completely captivated by its appearance. The structure seemed isolated and self-illuminating, almost phosphorescent. Above all, it was the two towers that stood out and reached towards the sky that caught his eye. This revelation stayed with GAN, and he knew he had to paint this motif. He never made any sketches before his paintings. Instead, he worked on the motif within himself and then, sometimes much later, transferred the vision onto the canvas. In May of the following year, 1919, GAN painted "Lund Cathedral," which is now part of the Norrköping Museum's collection. Many have interpreted the two towers as a twin rocket, and GAN himself could understand this. However, he meant that it was not his intention; what he was after was the movement, how the two towers draw the gaze upwards, and how the diagonals in the painting suggest that the frame can be broken and boundaries can be crossed.

In the early 1920s, GAN lived in Paris for five years, with interruptions for two longer stays in Lund and Halmstad during the summers of 1922 and 1923. During one of these stays in Lund, GAN returned to the motif of Lund Cathedral. The painting in the auction is executed in the strict synthetic cubist style that GAN transitioned to in Paris after his fragmented kaleidoscopic style of the 1910s. Once again, it is a nocturnal motif where the church almost self-illuminates in the foreground. The perspectives are shifted with planar geometric fields, and outside becomes inside, and in front becomes behind.

Lund held a special place in GAN's heart, and it is clear that this place and building had great significance and impact on him personally.