ArtistSE
Christina Knall
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Christina Knall was born on 29 April 1947 in Stockholm. She studied at Konstfack (the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design) in Stockholm from 1967 to 1971, specialising in textile design. The training gave her a strong foundation in pattern, color, and applied composition that carried through the rest of her career.
In 1972, together with textile artist Ingrid Nilsson, she opened the gallery Nilsson & Knall at Brännkyrkagatan 48 in the Södermalm district of Stockholm. The gallery moved to Hornsgatan 26 in 1981. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Knall and Nilsson worked primarily in tapestry technique, producing large-format textile works for corporate and institutional clients across Sweden. Commissions came from ABB, Ericsson, Volvo, Canon, Byggnadsstyrelsen, and Kooperativa Förbundet, as well as banks, hospitals, and embassies. This sustained period of public commission work placed her art in environments where it reached broad audiences outside the gallery system.
From the mid-1980s onwards, her practice shifted toward painting. She developed a distinctive visual language built around figuration, heightened color, and loosely structured compositions. Recurring subjects include outdoor dining scenes, dancing figures, cafe and bar interiors, and views across Stockholm's waterfront, particularly the harbour with the tall ship Af Chapman and the silhouette of Riddarholmen church. Motifs from the south of France - the Provencal light, palm-lined Riviera coastlines, and tables set under open sky - became equally central to her work.
In 1997, following the dissolution of the partnership with Nilsson, she took over the gallery alone under the name Galleri Knall. She has run it continuously since then, maintaining a permanent exhibition of her own paintings, prints, watercolors, and digital works. Her work in oil and acrylic forms the core of what appears at auction, though her lithographs and digigraphy editions are also found in the secondary market.
Knall's paintings have been acquired by Swedish and international companies, government institutions, and embassies. She has exhibited nationally and internationally throughout her career.
At auction, her work circulates primarily through Stockholms Auktionsverk and Metropol, with occasional appearances at regional houses. Oil paintings of Stockholm subjects - Af Chapman, Riddarholmen, and animated city views - consistently draw the highest prices, with results reaching 9,500 SEK at Stockholms Auktionsverk. A print on canvas with painted details sold at 4,200 EUR. Her signed and numbered lithographs trade in a lower price bracket, typically between 500 and 1,500 SEK.