Lundstrøm masterpiece

Intense, vibrant contrasts dominate Lundstrøm's “Opstilling” ("Still Life”), showcasing the artist's talent for stringent, colourful compositions.

8 June 2010

Vilhelm Lundstrøm: "Still Life", 1928-29. Signed on the reverse VL. Estimate: DKK 800,000-1,000,000.

Vilhelm Lundstrøm: Still Life. Sign. V.L. 20. Estimate: DKK 100,000.

2 images

Complementary contrasts

In the period from approx. 1925–1935, Vilhelm Lundstrøm (1893–1950) painted some of his most famous works – his still life compositions with clear lines and bright colours. The forms are reduced to something approaching their geometrical essence, and in the most powerful paintings, the complementary contrasts are highly charged. Lundstrøm’s “Opstilling” (“Still Life”) from 1928–29, available here, has particularly intense and vibrant contrasts.

Full yet simplified shapes

During a lengthy stay in Cagnes-sur-Mer in the South of France in 1923–32, Lundstrøm became interested in geometrical image construction, which was a hallmark of several of the late-cubist, European currents of art. He rapidly developed his own, independent, easily recognisable form which put the concentrated, powerful volume of objects firmly centre stage. He worked especially with still life compositions that combine stringent surface composition with a distinctly three-dimensional effect, but also with figure motifs of women, constructed from large, simplified shapes.

International trends

By virtue of his early international orientation, and notably as a result of the years he spent in the South of France, Lundstrøm was well versed in the avant-garde currents of the times. In his day and subsequently, several attempts were made to place Lundstrøm's works between the analytical cubism of Picasso and Barque, the cylindrical cubism of Fernand Léger and Le Corbusier's purism – without ever doing justice to the uniqueness of Lundstrøm's idiom.

The highest purity of form and colour

There is a consensus among Danish art historians concerning Lundstrøm's outstanding talent. Vilhelm Wanscher comments in a review from 1930: "Vilhelm Lundstrøm is one of the few modern painters who has a definite ideal and who methodically seeks to attain to the highest purity of form and colour" (Wilmann & Brøns: "Lundstrøm”, 1987, p. 196).

The work offered here is a rarity on the auction market and encompasses all the elements that make this painting an exceptional and iconic Lundstrøm masterpiece.