Inge Schiöler

"People have rightly wondered why Schiöler did not make more portraits. The relatively few examples that are preserved in his portrait art show an unequivocal talent in that area. There is the portrait of Stig, painted in 1931. The model is a boy named Stig Forsberg, who for a time lived in the Schiölerska home in Strömstad. Girl in blue (from the same time) depicts a good friend in the Schioler family - a face that rests immersed in itself and with melancholic features. Some fine self-portraits, both from the time before and the time after the disease, are also preserved.

But without a doubt the most expressive portrait Schiöler painted is ”The Gypsy”, which was painted during his time in Stockholm.
A very tragic event caused this painting to be lost forever. In July 1957, a Swedish ship "La Plata" departed from Gothenburg with a destination in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The cargo contained twenty-one paintings by Evert Lundquist, Vera Nilsson, Ragnar Sandberg and Inge Schiöler, as well as seven sculptures by Bror Hjorth. These works of art would be shown in an exhibition of Swedish 20th century art at the Sao Paolo Biennale.

But a fire broke out on board the ship, and practically all the works of art, including Inge Schiölers, were turned to smoking ash. Among the five paintings that represented Inge Schiöler was ”The Gypsy”. It now only remains in the form of an older color reproduction published in the book "Göteborgskoloristerna" (1948), but that image can of course only give us a vague idea of the expressive power that was in the painting itself. "
Excerpt from a report, the magazine Kulturen 9/1 2013

“A key to an unknown bank vault and a stack of sloppy drawings on yellowed paper, opens the door to a life story. It tells the story of the Gothenburg colorists in the 1930s and, above all, the talented and introverted artist Inge Schiöler.
During a wandering period in Spain, Schiöler began to hear voices in his own head and was subsequently admitted to a mental hospital. His artistic creativity turned into apathy, but much later his life came, against all odds, to take a positive direction. ”
Excerpt from a report in Swedish Television, 27 October 2015