Baron Carl Johan Louis De Geer af Finspång (born 13 July 1938) is a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
artist, writer, musician and ''
friherre
(; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...
'' (baron) of the
De Geer noble family.
De Geer was born in
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...
, Canada. He grew up in a castle in
Skåne, in southern
Sweden. He broke with his bourgeois background and became a
leftist artist, and studied at
Konstfack, University College of Art, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. He also exposed his grandmother's
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
sympathies in a film called ("Grandmother, Hitler and I").
Most radical and provoking at that time was his 1967 painting of a burning
Swedish flag with the words ('COCK') and "" (Desecrate the flag) written on it. The painting was shown in an art gallery, but was immediately confiscated by the
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
. During the late 1960s he was among the contributors of a satirical magazine, ''
Puss
Puss may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Puss'' (magazine), Swedish magazine published between 1968 and 1973
* ''Puss'' (film), a Swedish film dated 2010
* "Puss" (song), a noise rock song dated 1992
* Tom Puss, a fictional anthro ...
'', in Stockholm. De Geer has written a number of books and was also a member of the Swedish radical prog band ''
Blå Tåget
Blå Tåget (lit. ''The Blue Train'') is a Swedish progg-band that used to go under the name Gunder Hägg, the name of a legendary Swedish runner, but after name conflicts occurred they changed name to Blå Tåget (which was a ride at the amuseme ...
''. He has been married to the artist Marianne Lindberg de Geer since 1987.
He was awarded the
Illis quorum
''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') ( English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It"), is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society.
The award was introduced in 1784 by King Gu ...
by the Swedish government in 2017.
References
External links
*
Marianne Lindberg de Geer's website* Sinziana Ravini: ''Marianne Lindberg De Geer och kritiken'' (Dunkers kulturhus, 2010)
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Geer, Carl Johan
1938 births
Barons of Sweden
Artists from Montreal
Swedish artists
Swedish male writers
Swedish nobility
Konstfack alumni
Living people
Writers from Montreal
Swedish people of Belgian descent
Carl Johan
sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius
, spouse =
, issue = Oscar I of Sweden
, house = Bernadotte
, father = Henri Bernadotte
, mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pau, ...
Recipients of the Illis quorum