When I arrived at Liljevalch this morning, there was already a small crowd waiting to get in, even though there were still ten minutes before opening. The crowd steadily grew. A lot of them appeared to know each other. Once inside, I realised the bulk of the crowd divided into two distinct and massive groups. It occurred to me that I’d rather not be part of one of them.
Subsequently, I didn’t have to wait too long to get in, once the doors opened.
I was at Liljevalch for the Spring Salon. And it was excellent. Despite the crowds.
Actually, the big groups meant it was easy to avoid the rooms they were in as I walked around the gallery. I’d then return once they’d moved on.
Anyway, the vast majority of works by the 177 artists on display were excellent. This year, the final artists came from 3,835 applications for inclusion, which is over a thousand fewer than last year. I don’t know why. Even so, it’s obviously still going to be a largely difficult decision to pick the final pieces.
From beautiful paintings to crocheted stumps, the 2025 Spring Salon had just about everything. It even featured a bronze statue of a young girl which leapt out as being realistic, something not often found in modern art.
One particular piece was a dessert which, when it was entered into the salon was very pink and full of strawberries but, when I saw it today, had become a bit rotten and smelled pretty gross.
Gerascophobia is an acute fear of ageing. Given the smell and general appearance, it’s not hard see why you’d fear it. In the catalogue, the tart looks freshly made: even tempting. Given the Salon opened on February 14, it’s had a while to age. The thing is, the piece above was on sale for 1,000,000,000 SEK. As of today, it hadn’t sold.
The artist, Elle Azhdari, is a pastry designer who “…creates unconventional pastry art for events and editorial, as well as personal orders, which can function both as a unified series and as edible art sculptures.“
Being unsold was not true of many other pieces, which had little red stickers on the labels, indicating their status. I’m not surprised that one of the crocheted tree stumps had sold.
They were pretty amazing (I particularly liked the fungus), but I’m not sure where you’d put it if you bought one. They varied in price from 24,000–19,000 SEK.
The room they were in was dark and mysterious; as if the viewer had walked deep into an ancient forest. Everyone that entered gasped and exclaimed at the beauty of the pieces. It was a perfect setting.
Something else that was close to perfect was the almost complete lack of anything to do with Trump. Okay, there was the one collage piece featuring Trump and Putin in bed together, but that was it. There were also only two obvious pieces about war, which was surprising given the state of the world at the moment. Of the two, this one was most poignant.
I particularly like the way, Ravskyi has downplayed the war aspect of the painting, half finishing and blurring it into the background, while the victims are centre stage and dominant. Though, I do wonder why all the women lack pubic hair.
It was a large and deeply moving piece.
Surprisingly, my favourite piece this year was a very naturalistic painting. I loved it because it was filled with love and joy. The simplicity highlights how easy it is to be happy. I returned to it a few times just to bathe in the love. I also like the lack of anything gender specific.
Amneby is an architect who loves to paint and, if you ask me, is bloody brilliant at it.
This was my fourth Spring Salon and I sincerely hope it won’t be my last.
PS: Afterwards, we had dinner with Nicoline, but I’ll write about that tomorrow.
