Bertil Warnolf

The objects that populate his paintings are ordinary to the point of mundanity: a matchstick, a glass marble, a light bulb, a rubber hose, a stapler, a padlock, a single eye. Warnolf arranges them with the precision of a still-life painter but organizes them according to a logic that owes more to Surrealism than to the Dutch tradition. The technique is trompe-l'oeil - the illusion of three-dimensional presence is carefully maintained - but the combinations refuse rational explanation. A composition pairing a light bulb with insects ('Komposition med glödlampa och insekter') or a cowboy figure with a pistol and a lit match operates somewhere between dream imagery and private sign language.

This vocabulary extends across both his paintings and his lithographic editions. From the early 1970s through the late 1990s, Warnolf produced signed and numbered color lithographs in editions that typically ranged from around 100 to 310 impressions. Titles like 'Öga' (Eye, 1973, edition 136/310), 'Tecknande hand' (Drawing hand, 1974), 'Tändstickor och glaskulor' (Matches and glass balls, 1988), and 'Fågel på ufo' (Bird on UFO, 1988) map a consistent preoccupation across the decades. A 1985 poster connects him to an exhibition at a New York gallery, indicating international exposure during the period of his strongest production.

His work entered major Swedish collections, including Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Malmö Museum, Statens Konstråd, and Västerås museum, as well as collections held by municipalities and regional councils across Sweden. Solo exhibitions included Galleri Doktor Glas and Galleri 16 in Stockholm, Galleri Gertel and Galleri Persson in Malmö, Höganäs museum, and Lillan Heidenberg in New York. He has been represented by Galleri Final and has participated in group exhibitions at venues including Moderna Museet Malmö. In addition to painting and printmaking, Warnolf has produced sculptures - series of heads rendered without specific models, intended to represent psychological character types rather than individuals.

On Auctionist, 19 of Warnolf's works have been recorded, with the market split between his oil paintings and his graphic editions. His painting 'Komposition med glödlampa och insekter' is the strongest recorded result at 4,800 SEK, followed by 'Väktare' (Watchman) at 2,800 SEK. The lithographs appear frequently at southern Swedish auction houses - Garpenhus, Crafoord, Höörs Auktionshall, Helsingborgs Auktionskammare - reflecting both his Skane roots and the regional distribution of his print editions.