Olle Baertling

Background

Olle Baertling was born on December 6, 1911 in Halmstad, Sweden.

Education

Olle Baertling studied under Fernand Léger and André Lhote in 1948 in Paris.

Career

At the beginning of the 1950s, Olle was attracted by the interaction and mutual influence of art and architecture, so in 1952 the artist became one of the founders of the Espace group.

Also, since 1950, Baertling developed his original geometric-non-figurative style and, since 1954, he painted canvases of so-called "open forms", full-color geometric abstractions, which often featured black or contrasting triangles on a bright background.

In 1954, the painter began to create sculptural works, many of which were permanently installed in public spaces during the following years.

In the late 1950s, Olle collaborated with David Helldén, an architect, in designing the entrance lobby of one of the Hötorget buildings in Stockholm. The walls of this complex space were completely covered with Bærtling’s characteristic paintings, creating a dazzling unity in which architecture and painting are merged.

Encouraged by this collaboration, Olle Bærtling sketched a sculpture for the super-ellipsis on the planned Sergels torg plaza. After a few drafts, he settled for Asamk, a monumental sculpture measuring 84.7 metres, or rather, a 77-metre sculpture on a 7.7-metre base, that would "shoot off into space". In its design, Asamk is typical of Bærtling’s sculptures: it is comparable to the outlines in his paintings, that appear to have moved away from the fields of colour.

In 1963, Baertling represented Sweden at the 7th Biennial in Sao Paulo.

Olle had his first one-man exhibition in Zürich at Junior Galerie in 1975. During the following years, he also showed his works in Canada and Germany.

The Yayao shape is the last Olle's major project. Together with the architect Gerd Fesel, he designed a TV tower in 1978 that was intended for an artificial atoll outside Abu Dhabi. The tower would extend 300 metres from sea level and be crowned with an artificial pool of water.

Towards the end of his life, Olle Baertling engaged in a comparatively intimate format of painting on the one hand, and magnificent monumental architecture on the other. These two apparent opposite poles have something vital in common: both in his monumental projects and in his paintings Baertling was able to develop the ideal world. He sought to try out different forms, that he believed were ultimately inherent in human nature.

In 1981, Malmö Konsthall and Stockholm's Moderna Museet compiled the first comprehensive survey exhibition of Baertling's work.

Achievements

• Olle Baertling was honoured with several important prizes, including the award of the 7th Biennial of Sao Paulo in 1963.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Olle Baertling: A Modern Classic 2007
  • Baertling: Creator of open form 1966

• painting

  • Sergu

  • Flags for America's Cup

  • Delaumbre Bleue

  • Geometric Composition (The Angles of Olle Bærtling)

  • Oga

  • Ayar

  • Kero

  • Vebama

  • Deno (Les triangles de Baertling)

  • Irua

  • Provex

  • Force Spatiale Blanc Noir Bleu

  • Madamar

  • Yzip

  • Kia

  • Ardek

  • Iras

Views

What Olle Baertling meant with his concept of "open form" was, among other things, that his paintings were not limited to the frame of the canvas. Instead, painting should be regarded as "coloured light", and the edge of the canvas merely a practical boundary, that the work of art strives to transcend.

Quotations: "Invisible wealth is to be found in open form. It radiates a compressed concentration of highly-charged power that is transformed with suggestive radiant force into infinite space in strong dynamics and unknown dimensions. Art at its most sublime is a hymn of praise to creation, an invisible but ever-present force. A sense of the infinite, a flight to an invisible destination. A positive change of man's inner life, a realization of his world of ideas. An intellectualization, a visualization of the positive source of creative power, a visualization of its ethereal beauty."

"Everything is movement, everything moves. There is no stable point in the universe."

Membership

• founder

  Espace group

  1952

Connections

Olle married Lisa Maria von Roxendorff in 1939.

Wife:

Lisa Maria von Roxendorff

mentor:

André Lhote

mentor:

Fernand Léger