Background
Gosta Adrian-Nilsson was born in the spring of 1884, in the university-town of Lund and raised in an environment that fostered an inclination towards art and culture.
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Gosta Adrian-Nilsson was born in the spring of 1884, in the university-town of Lund and raised in an environment that fostered an inclination towards art and culture.
In 1907, Gosta made his debut as a painter by showcasing his work at a group exhibition at the Art Museum of the University of Lund. After completing his formal education at Zahrtmann’s School in Copenhagen, he traveled to Berlin in search of a clearer idea of contemporary art movements and the exciting and experimental new form of Modernism.
The gallerist and writer Herwarth Walden took an active interest in the young painter, allowing him access to “Der Sturm” and introducing him to the principal figures in Abstract Art. He was especially drawn to the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, gleaning from both artists a strong sense of color and styling.
Adrian-Nilsson, upon returning to Lund from his German expedition, found that his lover, Karl Edvard Holmstom, had died of pneumonia. It was a loss from which he would never fully recover. He threw himself into work, moving to Stockholm in 1916 to build a career in pure Abstraction, creating a series of Dadaist collages which garnered warm critical appreciation.
In 1920, Adrian-Nilsson moved to Paris where he formed a close collaborative relationship with Fernand Leger and Alexander Archipenko, and their influence is visible in his rendering of human figures - angular, mechanical and muscular. For the next decade, he produced several compositions of sailors, sportsmen and military officers, a preoccupation that would endure through generations - an obvious marker of his homosexuality.
In the 1930s, Adrian-Nilsson’s work began to adopt Surrealist elements, leading to an invitation to exhibit at the Kubisme-Surrealisme show in Copenhagen in 1935.
Having survived the atrocities of World War II, Adrian-Nilsson retired to Stockholm for the remainder of his life. He continued to paint and exhibit his compositions until the 1960s, and passed away in the spring of 1965 in Lund.
Gosta is regarded as a pioneer of the Swedish modernist art movement.
In 1985, the municipality of Lund attached a commemoration plate to the house in which Adrian-Nilsson born. In 1995, Galerie Bel’art held an exhibition titled, “GAN the Pioneer.” In 2011, a retrospective of his work was held in several museums - Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, Malmö Konstmuseum and Norrköpings Konstmuseum.
Acrobats in Paris
1924August Strindberg
1915Bains
1923Blue head
1951Figurer I Trappa
1923Hockey Player
House at the beach
1919Jack
1915Komposition
1917Komposition
1950Komposition med fartyg och figurer
Orientalisk danserska
Lucia with mask
1951Marin 1
1922Scissor plant
1952Shadows, twilight
1929Soldat
1917TJURFÄKTNINGSSCEN
1934Gosta was a homosexual. Although his orientation was known and accepted among peers, it was illegal to act upon homosexual impulses and seen as taboo by a social majority, making it difficult for him to live honestly and without fear.
