ArtistSwedish
Axel Olson
15 active items
Axel Olson carried Surrealism from the cafes of Berlin to the coast of Halland. Born Karl Axel Bernhard Olson in 1899, the brother of fellow painter Erik Olson, he formed the artist group Gnistan in 1915 with Erik and their cousin Waldemar Lorentzon. In 1922 he travelled to Italy and Germany, settling in Berlin the following year as a student of the sculptor Alexander Archipenko, where he absorbed the continental avant-garde: Cubism, Futurism, and Constructivism.
Returning to Halmstad in 1924, Olson co-founded the teaching group De Unga with Sven Jonson and Esaias Thoren. In 1929, six Halmstad artists, Olson, Erik Olson, Lorentzon, Jonson, Stellan Moerner, and Thoren, formed the Halmstad Group (Halmstadgruppen), which became Sweden's primary surrealist collective. Axel Olson's art was initially characterised by Cubist geometry, but during the 1930s he oriented himself toward Surrealism alongside the group. A 1948 trip to Paris brought contact with French non-figurative art, which left traces in his painting. Provence inspired a brighter palette in the 1950s, and in the 1960s he returned to surrealist imagery before coastal Halland motifs, boats, fishing gear, mussels, and snails, dominated his later decades.
Olson is represented in Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Hallands Konstmuseum, and Norrkopings Konstmuseum. He died in 1986.
At auction, his work appears primarily through Halmstads Auktionskammare and Laholms Auktionskammare, reflecting his deep roots in Halland. Oil paintings reach 15,000 to 19,000 SEK. The 157 items on Auctionist include paintings, prints, and drawings.