ArtistSwedish
Monica Lorentzon
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Monica Lorentzon, born in Stockholm in 1940, trained at Reybekiels konstskola before continuing her studies at Konstfackskolan - the School of Applied Arts and Design - in Stockholm. Rather than adopting conventional brushwork from her formal education, she developed a highly personal approach to oil painting in which she applies colour directly with her fingers, building surfaces that carry the warmth and immediacy of touch.
Her motifs return persistently to the female figure: women by flowers, pairs of women in gardens, summer girls standing in soft light. The figures are rendered in a naivistic mode - simplified contours, direct colour, faces that suggest emotion without attempting strict realism. There is a deliberate intimacy to the work, a sense that the subjects are observed in unguarded moments rather than posed.
Lorentzon received the Dag Hammarskjöld Prize in 1987, one of the more unusual distinctions in Swedish cultural life, awarded in memory of the late UN Secretary-General. Her work has entered the collection of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, extending her reach well beyond the Swedish art circuit. She is represented at Metropol Auktioner and Emmaboda Konst, among other galleries.
At auction, her paintings sell at accessible price points across a range of Swedish houses including Stockholms Auktionsverk Sickla, Formstad Auktioner, Garpenhus Auktioner, Ekenbergs, and Crafoord Auktioner Stockholm. The database shows 21 total lots, with a top realised price of 2,000 SEK for an oil on canvas titled "Kärlekspar" (Lovers). Works depicting garden scenes and summer figures appear most frequently. Prices remain modest, making her work accessible to collectors interested in postwar Swedish figurative painting.