Olle Bærtling

Olle Bærtling was highly inspired by space and science fiction. One can find many parallels with the infinity and mystery of space in his art. His black diagonal lines and color fields have no external boundary but continue beyond the physical surface of the work. Bærtling's art contained a great sense of discovery as he wanted to show how these new shapes and colors could affect us.
It has always been difficult to easily place Olle Baertling's work in a specific -ism or group of artists in Swedish art history. He was an independent artist who carved out his path both in life and in art. For a long time, Baertling felt that there was resistance to his art, he was "the constantly controversial banker who tried to paint" in Sweden. Of course, many artists have experienced resistance when they innovatively present something new to the public, but in Baertling's case, one might feel that it was unfair and petty because, unlike many contemporary artists, he reached far beyond the borders of his home country during his lifetime. With exhibitions all over the world from the 1950s until he died in 1981.
The 1950s was Olle Baertling's most important decade. In the early years of the 1950s, he took longer and longer leaves from his banking job at Skandinaviska Banken and traveled to Paris. There, in the Mecca of art, he came into contact with the new at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and sought out artists such as André Lhote, Fernand Léger, Victor Vasarely, Richard Mortensen and Auguste Herbin. The latter was crucial to his further development as an artist. Herbin introduced Baertling to the far-sighted gallerist Denise René, who immediately installed Baertling in her 'stable' of Constructivists'. Baertling abandoned the OP art that had inspired him for some time and began to create his style in which triangles and diagonals became the main theme. Once Baertling turned to the non-figurative, he began to "construct" paintings. From basic geometric elements, he built up a new visual world of measurements, proportions, and synthetic, programmed color tones. All methodically executed, the geometric instinct takes over and the 'open form' is born. In the concept of the "open form", Baertling sought to depict space and movement through his geometric shapes that continue beyond the surface of the picture, everything that was on the surface of the picture is carried out to the edge of the frame and beyond.
Baertling preferred artificial shades of color that did not evoke natural associations and believed that black was a magical color, light, cheerful, and beautiful.