ArtistSwedish
Olof Krumlinde
1 active items
Carl Olof Theodor Krumlinde was born on March 31, 1856 in Ängelholm, in the northwest corner of Scania. His father Hans Krumlinde was a surveyor, and the family's roots were firmly in the landscape of northwestern Skåne that would become the defining subject of Olof's painting life. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm from 1876 to 1880, where he trained in landscape painting under P.D. Holm and formed close friendships with fellow students Carl Skånberg, Johan Ericson, and Olof Jernberg — a circle of painters who would collectively shape the plein air tradition in southern Sweden.
After completing his academy studies, Krumlinde traveled in autumn 1881 to Düsseldorf and then onward to Paris, where he spent the following year. The time in Paris left a clear mark: his 1882 painting of newly budded birches from Scania was accepted at the Salon, an early recognition that confirmed his direction. What is telling, though, is that he painted Scanian subjects throughout his Paris stay. He would later say that he never painted French motifs while abroad. The landscape he carried with him was always that of northwestern Sweden.
From the early 1880s, Krumlinde spent extended periods in Copenhagen, including winters between 1882-83 and then again from 1888 through 1899. The Copenhagen years produced some of his most personal work: intimate paintings of the city's outskirts with muted, rust-brown tones and a sensitivity to low northern light. His handling of color during this period is less about spectacle than about mood — quiet, considered pictures that align with the understated qualities of his character and working method.
When the family settled permanently in Helsingborg in 1899, Krumlinde returned in earnest to the stretch of coast between Kullen and Halmstad that he had been painting since his student years. Together with Skånberg, Ericson, and Jernberg, he worked the shoreline around Skälderviken, Torekov, and Hallands Väderö, producing harbor views, seascapes, and open coastal landscapes that balance directness of observation with a consistent sensitivity to atmospheric light. The dramatic geology of the Kullen peninsula and the working life of small fishing harbors like Torekov appear repeatedly in his canvases.
Krumlinde exhibited with Skånes Konstförening every year from 1914 through 1944, a thirty-year record of unbroken commitment to the regional art community. He continued painting well into old age, active as an artist for over seven decades in total. He died in Helsingborg on October 25, 1945, aged 89.
On the auction market, Krumlinde's work circulates primarily through southern Swedish houses, reflecting both his geographic anchoring and his standing as a significant figure of the Skånsk plein air tradition. The Auctionist database holds 12 items attributed to him, with subjects ranging from coastal motifs and harbor scenes to forest paths and farmyard views. Recorded sales include a signed oil of a coastal motif at 8,050 SEK and a summer seascape at 2,850 SEK. He has also appeared at Bukowskis, where a moonlit river landscape achieved 20,000 SEK, and Stockholms Auktionsverk, confirming his place in the established secondary market for Swedish 19th-century plein air painting.