Nils Dardel (full name Nils Elias Kristofer von Dardel, sometimes known as ''Nils de Dardel'') was a 20th-century
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 ...
Post-Impressionist painter, grandson to famous Swedish painter
Fritz von Dardel
Fritz Ludvig von Dardel (24 March 1817 – 27 May 1901) was a Swedish diarist, illustrator and early comics artist. He was a courtier, and is known for his diary and illustrations depicting the life of the Swedish court in the mid-19th century. ...
.
Biography
![Nils Dardel John Blund](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Nils_Dardel_John_Blund.jpg)
Dardel was born in
Bettna,
Södermanland
Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västman ...
, Sweden in 1888. He studied at the
Royal Swedish Academy of Arts
The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts ( sv, Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, archite ...
in Stockholm
between 1908–1910. Some of his most famous paintings are ''Den döende dandyn'', ''Crime Passionnel'', ''Svarta Diana'' and ''John blund''.
Family life
Nils Dardel was born into the Swedish noble family ''von Dardel'', son of the landowner Fritz August von Dardel and Sofia Matilda Norlin. His grandfather was the Swedish painter
Fritz von Dardel
Fritz Ludvig von Dardel (24 March 1817 – 27 May 1901) was a Swedish diarist, illustrator and early comics artist. He was a courtier, and is known for his diary and illustrations depicting the life of the Swedish court in the mid-19th century. ...
,
adjutant to the later king
Charles XV of Sweden and member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Arts
The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts ( sv, Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, archite ...
in Stockholm, where Nils later studied between 1908–1920, and of which he eventually became a member in 1934.
In 1919, he proposed to
Nita Wallenberg, but her father, a Swedish diplomat, disapproved of Dardel and the marriage was not to be. This was linked closely to the creation of his work ''Exekution'' (Execution), which is said to be symbolic of the rejection.
Nils Dardel married the author
Thora Dardel (1899–1995 – née Klinckowström), which marriage lasted between 1921–1934. Together they had a daughter
Ingrid von Dardel (1922–1962) who like her father became an artist. Both her sons
Henry Unger (born 1945 – father
Gustav Unger) and
Nils Ekwall (born 1954 – father
Lage Ekwall) in turn were also active Swedish artists.
After the marriage to Thora, sometime in the 1930s Nils met
Edita Morris
Edith (Edita) Dagmar Emilia Morris, born ''Toll'' (5 March 1902 – 15 March 1988) was a Swedish-American writer and political activist.
Biography
Edita Morris was born in Örebro in Sweden. Her parents were Reinhold Toll, an agronomist who had ...
(1902–1988, née Toll), a Swedish writer with whom he shared his remaining life.
- though she remained married to
Ira Victor Morris.
Paris
After studying in Sweden he did as many of his contemporaries and traveled to Paris around 1910 (such as
Leander Engström,
Isaac Grünewald,
Einar Jolin
Einar Jolin (7 August 189029 August 1976) was a Swedish painter best known for his decorative and slightly naïve Expressionist style. After studying at Konstfack, Stockholm in 1906 and at the '' Konstnärsförbundets målarskola'' (the Art ...
, and
Sigrid Hjerten who all became students of
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...
). Dardel primarily took inspiration from the
Fauvists with their pure palette, the
Post-Impressionists, as well as Japanese
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...
s. Dardel also made a brief foray into
Cubism, and painted a few cityscapes in the style.
Post-Impressionism
Dardel explored
Pointillism, using strong colors together with very clear motifs. ''Begravning i Senlis'' (Funeral in Senlis) from 1913 typifies this style and was painted while Dardel was visiting a staying in the medieval town of
Senlis
Senlis () is a commune in the northern French department of Oise, Hautes de France.
The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived in Senlis, attracted by the proximity of the Chantilly forest. It is known for its Gothic cathedral and other ...
. Another early painting was the portrayal German art dealer
Alfred Flechtheim. Over the course of Dardel's life, he primarily painted humans, concentrating on portraiture or paintings of groups of people.
Ballets Suédois
![Nils Dardel - Crime passionnel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Nils_Dardel_-_Crime_passionnel.png)
After living in Paris for three years, Dardel and
Rolf de Maré became friends. Maré would later create the
Ballets Suédois
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
, which performed in Paris between 1920 and 1925. The friendship benefited Dardel as Maré was able to act as a benefactor for Dardel's art, and the duo is also claimed to have been fruitful for Maré's dance company.
In the early 1920s, Dardel created a number of works based upon stage sets, and these have been likened to sketches of drama or film. Dardel also created the stage sets for ''Midsummer Wake'' (music by
Hugo Alfvén
Hugo Emil Alfvén (; 1 May 18728 May 1960) was a Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter.
Career
Violinist
Alfvén was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and studied at the Royal College of Music (Kungliga Musikhögskolan) from 1887 ...
), and ''Maison de Fous'' (a dance drama with compositions by
Viking Dahl
Viking Dahl (8 October 1895 – 5 January 1945) was a Swedish composer, active also as a painter and an author.
Biography
Frode Viking Samson Dahl was born in Osby in Scania, Sweden. He was the son of Samuel Dahl (1847-1932) and Katarina Lovis ...
). ''Crime passionnel'' (Crime of Passion) from 1921 is typical of Dardel's paintings from this era.
Travels
Nils was a prolific traveler, picking up influences and motives from different countries.
Later years
Dardel lived a nomadic life, traveling far and wide without ever really settling down. Many of his portraits are of people and places whom he met along his travels. He was known to be self-destructive.
Not exceptionally appreciated in his lifetime, his breakthrough in Sweden came simultaneously to the breaking out of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in Europe, at the time when
Liljevalchs konsthall
Liljevalchs konsthall ( Swedish for "Liljevalch's Art Gallery") is an art gallery located on the Djurgården island in Stockholm, Sweden. Designed by architect Carl Bergsten (1879–1935) and inaugurated in March 1916, it is today owned by the Cit ...
displayed a retrospective of Dardel's life and works.
Legacy
![Ekerö church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Eker%C3%B6_church.jpg)
Nils died in New York City in 1943,
and was buried in ''Ekerö cemetery'' outside of Stockholm.
[Göran Åstrand: ''Känt och okänt på Stockholms kyrkogårdar'' (Ordalaget Bokförlag 1998) sid.40 ]
His works are on display in a number of museums and galleries including
Nationalmuseum,
Göteborgs konstmuseum
Gothenburg Museum of Art ( sv, Göteborgs konstmuseum) is located at Götaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden.
It claims to be the third largest art museum in Sweden by size of its collection.
Collections
The museum holds the world's finest collect ...
,
Malmö konstmuseum,
Nasjonalgalleriet and
Waldermarsudde. His works ''Självporträtt'' (Self-portrait) and ''Visit hos en excentrisk dam'' (Visit at an eccentric lady) were featured by the Swedish Postal-works 1988 stamp series ''Svenska konstnärer i Paris'' (Swedish artists in Paris).
His 1918 work ''Den döende dandyn'' (The dying dandy) was sold twice at record prices at
Bukowskis
Bukowskis is a Scandinavian fine art and antique auction house established in 1870 by the Polish nobleman Henryk Bukowski in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1979, an office was opened in Helsinki, Finland.
In January 2022, Bukowskis was acquired by Bonhams ...
in Stockholm; first in 1984 at 3,4 million kronor and again in 1988 for the then termed sensational 13 million kronor. Simultaneously the image took on an iconic role within the 1980s Swedish gay movement. His works came to be analyzed under the budding field of gender-studies, and the ambivalence of the sex of his characters were topic of study.
![NILS VON DARDEL,](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/NILS_VON_DARDEL%2C_%22Vattenfallet%22.jpg)
Dardel's work ''Vattenfallet'' (or ''the Waterfall'') sold for 25 million kronor in 2012 and was to date the most expensive modernist Swedish painting ever sold. The buyer was an undisclosed individual. The record in turn supplanted the earlier record held by ''the Dying Dandy''.
Selected works
1900s
File:Självporträtt, Nils von Dardel.jpg, ''Self-portrait''
1906
File:Nils Dardel - Gosshuvud.jpg, ''Gosshuvud''
1908
File:ND Mansportraett.jpg, ''Mansporträtt''
''Portrait of a man''
1908
File:Nils Dardel - Torparflicka.png, ''Torparflicka''
''Farm girl''
1909
1910s
File:ND03 Flicka blaa.jpg, ''Flicka i blå klänning''
''Girl in blue dress''
1910
File:ND Tvaa flickor.jpg, ''Två flickor''
''Two Girls''
1911
File:Nils Dardel, Turisthotellet i Rättvik.jpg, ''Turisthotellet i Rättvik''
''Tourist hotel in Rättvik''
1915
File:Nils Dardel Döende dandyn.jpg, ''Den döende dandyn''
'' The Dying Dandy''
1918
File:ND dd2.jpg, ''Den döende dandyn''
(1st version)
1918
1920s
File:Nils Dardel - Visit hos excentrisk dam.png, ''Visit hos excentrisk dam''
1921
File:NILS VON DARDEL, "Svarta Diana".Jpeg, ''Svarta Diana''
''Black Diana''
1929
File:Målning av Nils von Dardel (Drömmar och fantasier nr 1), 1922 - Hallwylska museet - 22229.tif, ''Drömmar och fanstasier'' #1
''Dreams and fantasies''
1922
File:ND Der Tod und das Maedchen.jpg, ''En dans med döden''
''A dance with Death''
1920
File:ND Familjeidyll.jpg, ''Familjeidyll''
''Family idyll''
1923
File:NILS VON DARDEL "The Return to the Playgrounds of Youth".jpg, ''Return to the Playgrounds of Youth''
1924
1930s
File:Nils Dardel Marthe.jpg, ''Marthe''
1930
File:ND92.jpg, ''Ett hjärta i brand''
''A heart in flames''
ca. 1930
File:ND Fiskaren.jpg, ''Fiskaren''
''The angler''
1931
File:NILS VON DARDEL "GRÄSHOPPAN".jpg, ''Gräshoppan''
''The Grasshopper''
1931
File:ND Ormen.jpg, ''Den bortrövade ormen''
ca. 1931
File:ND Autoportrait1935.jpg, ''Autoportrait''
1935
File:ND Edita Morris.jpg, ''Edita Morris''
1936
1940s
File:ND Mexicain.jpg, ''Mexican boy''
~1940
File:ND Mexicaine.jpg, ''Mexican girl''
~1940
File:ND62.jpg, ''Mexikansk kvinna med korslagda händer''
''Mexican woman with crossed hands''
~1940
File:ND63.jpg, ''Hustrumördaren''
''The wife murderer''
~1940
File:ND65.jpg, ''Mexican girl''
~1940
File:Nils Dardel - Gammal mexikansk kvinna.jpg, ''Gammal mexikansk kvinna''
''Old Mexican lady
File:ND Indian.jpg, ''Mexikansk Indian''
Further reading
*''Nils von Dardel'', in ''Moderna museet – The Book'', ed. C. Widenheim ''et al.'', Stockholm, Moderna Museet, 2006
*''Nils Dardel – and the Modern Age'' by John Peter Nilsson ''et al.'', Moderna Museet, 2014
* ''Nils Dardel – I skuggan av dandyn'', Hamlstad: Mjellby Konstmuseum 2012
* ''En bok om Nils Dardel'', by Thora Dardel, Bokförlaget Cordia, 2nd ed. 1995
Russian-language site, with numerous Nils Dardel paintings
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dardel, Nils von
20th-century Swedish painters
Swedish male painters
Post-Impressionist artists
Fauvism
Swedish nobility
1888 births
1943 deaths
People from Södermanland County
Nils
Morris family (meatpacking)
20th-century Swedish male artists