Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (2 April 1884 in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

- 29 Mars 1965 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

), usually referred to as GAN, was a Swedish artist and writer. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Swedish

modernist art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the trad ...

movement.

Personal experiences

He was born in a farming family in Southern Sweden. He was debuted as an artist in 1907 from an Art exhibition in the University of Lund. He then went to Technical Company School and then to Kristian Zahrtmann's School in Copenhagen. He then travelled in the year 1913 to Berlin. There he came in contact with abstract art, futurism and cubism, something that had a major impact on his own art. Gösta Adrian-Nilsson became a pioneer for radical art in 1910 and 20th century Sweden.

Career

GAN influenced members of the Halmstad Group (''Halmstadgruppen''). Through an old friend of GAN, the railway engineer Egon Östlund, he was reunited with his cousins Axel and

Erik Olson Erik Artur Olson (Ohlson, Olsson) (Halmstad 9 May 1901 – 1986) was a Swedish painter, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, theater decorator, and member of Halmstadgruppen. He was the brother of artist Axel Olson, and in 1929 married ...

and Waldemar Lorentzon. In the year 1928 he got to know Sven Jonson and Esaias Thorén, and in particular Thorén became a greater admirer of GAN. Especially his surrealistic phase influenced them, but also his motifs of seamen's life. His later works approached

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

, inspired by the landscape painter Marcus Larson. In addition to oil paintings, he also produced some watercolour works, and wrote poems, short stories and children's books. The fact that GAN was gay was reflected in many of his works. For example, for periods he was fixated by sailors and adored masculine strength. Another favorite motif was sportsmen. At the same time, the homosexual eroticism was both illegal and a taboo and GAN was forced to live a double life. GANs grav norra kyrkogården lund sweden

GAN is represented at the

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...

and the

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö in t ...

in Stockholm, Gothenburg's Art Museum, Malmö Art Museum,

Waldemarsudde Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde (Swedish for ''Cape Waldemar''), is a museum located on Djurgården in central Stockholm. The name is composed of Waldemar, an Old German noble male name, and udde, meaning cape. It is derived from a historical name o ...

and Kulturen in Lund. In the last mentioned museum GAN's works and those of Wiwen Nilsson constitute a permanent exhibition of modernistic art. His writings are preserved at the University Library of Lund.

Death

GAN passed away in stockholm on 29 Mar. 1965 and he was buried at the cemetery of Norra kyrkogården in Lund.

Art work

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adrian-Nilsson, Gosta Swedish artists 1884 births 1965 deaths Gay artists LGBT artists from Sweden