ArtistSwedish
Börje Sandelin
1 active items
Börje Axel Thure Sandelin was born on August 30, 1926, in Österplana, Skaraborg, and grew up in Hällekis where his father worked as an engineer at a cement factory. His mother, the daughter of the artist and landowner Axel Sandberg, died when Sandelin was around ten years old. The loss left a lasting mark, and his school years in Askersund were difficult - he spent most lessons drawing and left prematurely in 1940. An early encounter with the author and artist Folke Dahlberg set him on a deliberate path toward a life in art.
Sandelin trained at the decorative painting department of Konstfackskolan in 1941, at Otte Sköld's painting school in Stockholm during the winter of 1943-44, and then at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts from 1946 to 1952. His practice was built around graphic work - etching and drypoint in particular - alongside painting and draughtsmanship. Through the 1950s he developed a figurative language populated by dreamlike, melancholic figures. He illustrated several literary publications of the period, including Bo Setterlind's "Eviga böner" (1956), Harry Martinson's "Förlorade sonen", and Lennart Hellsing's poetry collection "Sandstoder".
In the early 1960s his work shifted toward a more symbolic register. The 1963 works "Zeus" and "Teresias uppenbarelse" drew on the visual world of William Blake, using what Sandelin described as constellations - arrangements of geometric symbols including the cube, circle, and triangle combined with figures of gods, angels, and mythological beings. These works positioned him alongside the more visionary strand of Swedish postwar graphic art rather than within any single formal movement.
Beyond visual art, Sandelin published poetry and prose in journals including Konstvännen, and released two collections: "Granarna" (1964) and "Det speglade ansiktet" (1965). A posthumous anthology, "Främlingsfolket" (Wahlström & Widstrand, 1968), gathered responses to his imagery. He died in Stockholm on May 15, 1970, aged 43. His work entered the collections of Nationalmuseum and Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Nasjonalgalleriet in Oslo, Ateneum in Helsinki, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and Malmö Museum.
On Auctionist, 17 items by Sandelin have been tracked, with 2 currently active. The works are predominantly prints and etchings, appearing through Metropol, Crafoord Auktioner Stockholm, Falun Auktionsbyrå, and Örebro Stadsauktioner. Prices have ranged from 300 to 2,200 SEK, with signed and numbered editions - some from runs of 150 - forming the core of market activity.