The cosmopolitan Tora Vega Holmström was born in Åkarp, between Lund and Malmö, but felt equally at home in the slums of Marseilles and in the desert of the Sahara. Her painting is characterised by a monumentality in the composition. Holmström’s main interest, however, was colours.
At the turn of the previous century, she studied under Carl Wilhelmson at the Valand School of Fine Art in Gothenburg and learned the vital importance of colour and the pointillist technique, as well as austere and simple composition. She continued her education in Germany and Paris. Cézanne inspired her, as did Cubism. Holmström found her models and motifs on her many journeys, as well as in Kåseberga in Österlen, where she had a studio. Holmström admired Ester Almqvist’s idea of the landscape, and began painting towards abstract landscapes in the middle of the century. Holmström is regarded as one of the innovators of Swedish art in the 1910s.
Philippa Nanfeldt 2011
