ArtistSwedish
Olle Lindgren
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Sven Olov Lindgren, known as Olle, was born on 16 February 1930 in Högbo, Sandviken, and grew up in Bollnäs in Hälsingland. His upbringing in the landscape and natural rhythms of that region left a lasting mark on his subject matter - cranes in flight, spring rivers, forest edges, and the lives of people within them would recur throughout his career.
After an initial period at Berghs School of Advertising in Stockholm from 1952 to 1954, Lindgren enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied painting and graphic art from 1954 to 1959 under Hugo Zuhr and Harald Sallberg. Study trips to Spain, France, and the Netherlands broadened his visual language and fed an interest in the expressive traditions of European modernism. His approach to the figure and to movement owed something to these encounters, though he developed a style that remained distinctly personal.
From 1957 onward Lindgren participated repeatedly in the Stockholm Salon at Liljevalchs art hall, and from 1954 in the Nationalmuseum's recurring exhibition for young draughtsmen. It was there, in 1963, that he won first prize with five drawings of baboons - a recognition of his acute observation of animal movement. One of those drawings was purchased by King Gustav VI Adolf for his personal art collection. Lindgren also participated in the Graphic Society's group exhibitions, maintaining throughout his career a dual practice in painting and printmaking.
The art critic Olle Granath described Lindgren's painting as employing "a summary and quick expressionism" - vigorous color patches that sweep across the picture surface and arrest movement: horses, apes, birds, cars, and people caught in the midst of action. His color palette was bold and direct, and he worked in oil on canvas and board as well as in etching and drypoint. Subjects ranged from figure compositions such as midsummer dances to individual portraits, landscapes of Hälsingland, and the animals that seemed to fascinate him throughout his life.
Lindgren held solo exhibitions in Stockholm, Malmö, Örebro, Katrineholm, Gävle, Sandviken, Bollnäs, and Östersund. His work entered the collections of Värmlands Museum, Eskilstuna Art Museum, Östersunds Museum, and Moderna museet in Stockholm. He died on 12 July 2018 in Saltsjöbaden.
At auction, Lindgren appears primarily in regional Swedish sale rooms, with works passing through Stadsauktion Sundsvall, Halmstads Auktionskammare, Helsingborgs Auktionskammare, Uppsala Auktionskammare, and Stockholms Auktionsverk. The 16 items recorded in the Auctionist database are all oils - subjects include cranes, a midsummer dance, a monkey with young, a Hälsingland landscape, and a troubadour's terrace - with prices in the range of a few hundred to just over 700 SEK. His work remains modestly priced relative to its museum presence, offering accessible entry points to a coherent and distinctly Swedish expressionist voice.