With Tastemaker’s Choice, we invite inspiring voices from the worlds of art and design to share their favourite pieces from our quality auctions, objects that capture their eye and spark their imagination.
Meet Duncan Campbell and Charlotte Rey, the duo behind the award-winning art and design atelier Campbell-Rey. Swipe to see a selection of their favourites from the Modern Art & Design live auction and find the full article at the link in bio.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Live auction: May 20–21
Join us this weekend for the viewing of the live auction Modern Art & Design. Among the highlights are Fernand Léger, "Composition à l'oiseau, esquisse".
Fernand Léger moved throughout his artistic career between the abstract and the figurative. In the foremost works of his career, he achieved a synthesis between the two poles, of which the auction's painting "Composition à l'oiseau" is a refined example.
Painted in 1947, shortly after his return to Paris from wartime exile in the United States, the work reflects both his renewed optimism and his engagement with new visual impressions drawn from American urban and rural environments. In the postwar period, Léger expressed a strong belief in cultural renewal and sought to contribute to France’s reconstruction through his art and teaching.
During these years, his work became more organic and nature-oriented, with geometric structures giving way to motifs inspired by the natural world. In "Composition à l'oiseau, esquisse," vibrant, luminous forms are set against a restrained background, where abstract elements and references to nature—such as branching forms—merge into a unified composition.
The painting exemplifies Léger’s late 1940s exploration of the interplay between colour, form, and line, where abstraction and figuration coexist in a dynamic and balanced whole.
Featured in the first image are "Composition à l'oiseau, esquisse" by Fernand Léger, "Reclining Figure Curved: Smooth" by Henry Moore, and a Metropolitan chair by Ejner Larsen & Aksel Bender Madsen.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Live auction: May 20–21
The Jewellery Department at the live auction Modern Art & Design presents pieces by Swedish and international designers including Wiwen Nilsson, Björn Weckström, Theresia Hvorslev and Rosa Taikon, alongside a fine collection of jewellery by Sven-Erik Högberg. Discover a carefully curated selection of necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, brooches and bridal crowns.
Browse all jewellery at the link in bio.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm. Live auction: May 20–21
Make sure to visit the viewing of Modern Art & Design – open today 11 AM – 4 PM.
Seen here is Carl Malmsten’s bespoke furniture for Villa Kvikkjokk, mirrors and console tables by Otto Schulz, works by Béla Kádár, Arman, Alfred Lenica as well as a "Svarta trädgårdsmattan" by Märta Måås Fjetterström.
Viewing: May 13–19, 2026, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Weekdays: 11 AM – 6 PM Weekends: 11 AM – 4 PM
Read more about the live auction, browse the catalogue, and place an absentee bid today at the link in bio.
Carl Kylberg is regarded as one of the most prominent Swedish artists of the early 20th century, known for his shimmering paintings and expressive colour compositions. In Bukowskis’ live auction Modern Art & Design, the work “Sitta i sin mammas knä” is presented alongside several other works by Kylberg.
The portrait of mother and child presented here is a clear example of Kylberg's unique ability to unite warm and cool colour tones into a harmonious whole. The subject depicts his wife Ruth, who became one of his most recurring and cherished motifs, sitting with the couple's daughter in her lap.
Ruth Kylberg played a central role in the artist's life, both as a constant support and a source of inspiration for several of his most significant paintings. She also contributed practically to his artistry by creating carved frames for several of his works, including the frame for the present painting.
Nature and landscape are recurring themes in Kylberg's art. His works often draw motifs from the Swedish countryside, but also from Denmark, where he and Ruth spent many summers. The depictions are marked by intensity and a colour palette dominated by deep shades of yellow, red, green, and blue. In this painting, Kylberg conveys a sense of tranquil summer days and expresses a warm and enduring love for both nature and humanity.
Explore more art and design in the catalogue and register to bid at the link in bio.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Live auction: May 20–21
The viewing is now open. Welcome to explore a carefully curated selection of modern art and design by Swedish and international artists and designers. The auction spans from the breakthrough of the early twentieth century to the height of modernism in the mid-century period, offering a breadth of expressions, materials and artistic perspectives.
Featured here are “Circus” by Einar Jolin, alongside sought-after design and works of art by Einar Luterkort, Carl Hörvik, Gustaf Axel Berg, Eskil Sundahl, Nils Fougstedt, Sylvia Stave, and Märta Måås-Fjetterström.
Viewing: May 13–19, 2026, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Weekdays: 11 AM – 6 PM
Weekends: 11 AM – 4 PM
Ascension Day 11 AM– 4 PM
Read more about the live auction, browse the catalogue, and place an absentee bid today at the link in bio.
Discover ”Den drunknade flickan I" by Nils von Dardel – to be sold at Modern Art & Design.
Nils von Dardel grew up at the small manor of Svarthåll, situated between Arboga and Kungsör. His upbringing was secure and idyllic, and throughout his adult life he would remember it as a kind of lost paradise.
This childhood idyll could, however, at times be shattered by tragic events along the muddy banks of the Arbogaån. It happened that children bathing there would slip in the mud, drift into deep water and drown. The artist’s elder brother Fredrik once recounted that almost every year they witnessed how a beautiful summer’s day could suddenly turn into a sorrowful tragedy.
From an early age, they were thus confronted with death and its reality. These experiences left a deep impression on the young Dardel and awakened both fear and fascination in the face of death.
The work is among the most psychologically charged compositions from this period of Dardel’s oeuvre. Through the flat, clean linearity of the composition, Dardel conveys an emotional undertone of vulnerability and unease in the face of life’s tragedy – an elegantly veiled image of cruelty and compassion.
”Den drunknade flickan I" originally formed part of the collection of the art lover Jean O. Erikson, whose home was on Erik Dahlbergsgatan in Gothenburg. Erikson was Norwegian Consul General and married to the colourful Norwegian artist Signe Hvistendahl.
Browse the full catalogue and register to bid at the link in bio.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Live auction: May 20–21
The Carpets and Textiles Department highlights a number of unique pieces, with a particular focus on Swedish textile craftsmanship of the highest quality. Among the highlights are exceptional carpets created by the distinguished textile artists Märta Måås-Fjetterström and Barbro Nilsson, together with works by several artists active within AB MMF.
The auction also presents two carpets by the textile artist Margareta Sundbom-Eichenholz. Educated at Konstfack in the 1950s, she developed a distinctive artistic language shaped by both traditional craftsmanship and a more experimental approach to textile art.
Deeply inspired by the forests of Hälsingland, Sundbom-Eichenholz transformed natural impressions into expressive woven compositions, where shifting colours and organic forms evoke the atmosphere and rhythms of the woodland landscape. Her works balance technical precision with a highly personal sense of colour and movement.
Although her artistic career was relatively brief, ending already in 1957, her textiles remain compelling examples of post-war Swedish textile art, uniting nature-inspired imagery with refined craftsmanship and modern expression.
Browse the full catalogue and register to bid at the link in bio.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Live auction: May 20–21
Torsten Kreuger & Villa Kvikkjokk – a unique collection of Carl Malmsten furniture to be sold at Modern Art & Design.
Torsten Kreuger (1884–1973) was a Swedish engineer educated at Chalmers in Gothenburg. He primarily worked as an industrialist and banker. On behalf of his family, he worked in the match industry and later supported his brother the "Match King" Ivar Kreuger in building his financial empire. Kreuger was active in the banking sector in Stockholm and owned several newspapers.
Villa Kvikkjokk on Djurgården in Stockholm was built in the 1860s and designed by the architect Theodor Anckarsvärd. Torsten Kreuger moved into the villa in 1926 and remained there into the 1930s. Kreuger had Villa Kvikkjokk extensively restored and hired Carl Malmsten to design several sets of furniture for the villa's various rooms. Malmsten, in turn, commissioned his brother-in-law Alf Munthe to hand paint the decoration on a blue dining room set (cat. no. 331-341) as well as wall and ceiling paintings in Villa Kvikkjokk. For the salon, Malmsten designed a piece of furniture in Chinese red with profiled gilded decoration (cat. no. 342-345). The furniture by Malmsten bears a strong resemblance to the set he designed as early as 1923 and which came to be a wedding gift to the newlywed Crown Prince Gustaf (VI) Adolf and Louise Mountbatten before they moved into Ulriksdal Castle. In a magazine article from 1956, the interior of Villa Kvikkjokk is mentioned:
"We enter the exceptionally homely salon. The artistic touch that Carl Malmsten and Alf Munthe gave the room during the restoration still stands up very well, despite such recent additions as the radiogramophone and the more modernist demands of a younger generation. But the mixing of old and new has been done in a very reverent and harmonious way.”
Read more about the collection and register to bid at the link in bio.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Live auction: May 20–21
Modern Art & Design presents "Påskafton på turisthotellet" by Bror Hjorth.
Bror Hjorth’s importance to the emergence of modernism in Sweden gathered real momentum during his time in Paris in the 1920s. It was there, at a distance from Sweden, that he not only developed his artistic language but also found a deeper sense of inner grounding.
In Paris, he worked intensively, experimenting with the robust language of Cubism and striving to capture what lay beyond the visible—the inner essence of form. His encounter with Auguste Rodin left a powerful impression through its expressive force, while Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Paul Gauguin opened his eyes to the possibilities of colour.
This shift would later find vivid expression in the present work, rooted in Hjorth’s own life and surroundings.
His motifs were now drawn almost exclusively from home: the surroundings of Uppsala and the family’s travels to Rättvik, Leksand, Varberg, Öland, and Arild. The tourist hotel in Rättvik, commissioned by Wilhelmina Skogh, was completed in 1894. At Easter 1946, a grand ball was held in the dining room—an event Hjorth immortalised with remarkable richness of colour.
To the left appears the artist’s wife, Tove Hjorth, dancing in a blue skirt and white blouse. Their son Ole, dressed in a brown suit and black bow tie, leads his companion between the colourful ribbons hanging from the ceiling.
Hjorth’s work carries a distinctive luminosity. In Easter Eve at the Tourist Hotel, he is at his most expressive, creating a tribute to what lay closest to his heart—music, people, and an inexhaustible joy for life.
Browse the full catalogue and register to bid via the link in bio.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Live auction: May 20–21
Erik Chambert – Swedish Design of Exceptional Class at Modern Art & Design
Erik Chambert was a versatile artist, designer, and furniture architect with a distinctive expression described as “human functionalism.” He was influenced by the artistic currents of his time but always transformed them into a personal style. Today, he is regarded as one of the foremost Swedish designers of the 20th century, alongside contemporaries such as Josef Frank and Carl Malmsten.
After graduating in 1925, he was employed at Otto Schulz’s design office in Gothenburg. His breakthrough came at the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930, where he furnished a functio¬nalist apartment designed by Kurt von Schmalensee. This success was followed by participation in the world exhibitions in Brussels in 1935, Paris in 1937, and New York City in 1939.
Despite the ideals of functionalism, Chambert remained committed to craftsmanship, and the furniture from the family workshop was always hand-made with great care. During the 1930s and 1940s, his design language softened and nature motifs became increasingly central. He worked with inlays and later with painted floral compositions, alongside a growing interest in drawing and painting, which eventually also established him as a recognised visual artist.
This interest in nature deepened in his furniture design. In the 1940s, he began using cabinet surfaces as artistic canvases, painting lush floral meadows in oil. The unique cabinet in this auction is richly decorated with Swedish wildflowers: hepatica, hawkweed, cow parsley, foxglove, bleeding heart, oxeye daisy, mullein, Carpathian bellflower, columbine, and various grasses. Chambert’s preparatory sketches in gouache for the present decor is held in the collections of Norrköpings konstmuseum.
Also seen here is a 'Ängarna' carpet, knotted pile, by Märta Måås-Fjetterström, signed AB MMF.
Read more about the cabinet and register to bid at the link in bio.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Live auction: May 20–21,
Bukowskis is pleased to present Einar Jolin's magnificent painting "Circus," executed in 1917, to be sold at the Modern Art & Design live auction. "Circus" has previously been part of several prominent Swedish collections, including that of Director Herman Gotthardt and the well-known screenwriter and actor Hasse Ekman.
The motif "Circus" was created a few years after Jolin returned from Paris to Stockholm. In his own interpretation of expressionism, charmingly naive and with a refined colour palette, Jolin has created a motif filled with joy of life in a troubled time.
"Circus" is an almost solemnly strict composition. The unusually large canvas for the artist enhances the vertical lines in the motif with its height. Between tall columns, the audience sits upright in the rows of benches. In the foreground, a long silhouette of a solitary gentleman in a top hat dominates. As a counterbalance to the somewhat stiff figures, the oval ring fills the canvas, and its curved shape resonates in the sea of spectators and in the vaulted arches of the ceiling. With warm tones of sand yellow and recurring red details in the decor, the artist creates a secluded scene where a divertissement is taking place. At the centre, a clown with a bright red ball, a small horse, a poodle, a tamer with an unclear task, a dapper rider on a white horse, and a few figures who seem to be waiting for their turn. The exit to the underlying reality is guarded by a group of gentlemen in tailcoats. As observers, we follow the spectacle from the back row.
Jolin stages a drama where the acting performers step back in favour of a visually orchestrated whole; they function more as props than as protagonists. The pictorial space is instead dominated by the spotlight that conjures the performance as an autonomous spectacle, characterised by escapism and optical intensity.
Read more about the work and register to bid at the link in bio.
Viewing: May 13–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Live auction: May 20–21
