The Idea of North: The Art of David Wallin, 1876-1957

This dissertation will examine the role the artist David Wallin (1876-1957) played in the history of Swedish, and Nordic, art. It will look at how, through his painting, not only did he maintain elements of the National Romantic tradition, but how his oeuvre reveals an artist concerned less with belonging to a specific group, and instead painting what inspired him most. Through analysing and observing his works, most of which focus on his family and his native landscape, an image of Sweden, and indeed Scandinavia, will be formed. This image will challenge the stereotypical understanding the Anglophone world has of the North. This thesis will moreover focus on unearthing an artist who fit no one category or classification of art, and consequently has been ignored by the study of Nordic art history. With regard to the latter, there has to date been little room for manoeuvre in the study of artists who worked outside the brackets of National Romanticism and Modernism, however by not merely adhering to a study of ‘isms’ the opportunities are endless. Moving away from the study undertaken by Kirk Varnedoe in Northern Light, I will consider how the approach required today is one which takes into account the individuality of each artist, using Wallin as an example. Furthermore, I will examine how artists of Wallin’s generation, as well as those that came before and after him, not only related to one another, but were inspired by, and also inspired, artists in Europe and across the Atlantic.