At Waldemarsudde, Gunnel Wåhlstrand's mother emerges more clearly from her father's shadow. The paintings are so technically perfect that it almost becomes annoying - but Joanna Persman capitulates.
Why do we need art? Marcel Proust's answer was that ‘only through art can we go out of ourselves, know what another sees of that universe which is not the same as ours and whose landscapes would have remained as unknown to us as those which may exist on the moon.’
At the same time, art is the winding road inwards. An arduous, time-consuming journey to get to know oneself.
Gunnel Wåhlstrand does both. Her creation is like a kind of ongoing DNA test. Again and again she goes back to her family history and the interiors and landscapes where it took place.
Waldemarsudde is showing the artist's most comprehensive presentation to date. The generous selection includes some 30 works from the last 20 years, the most recent of which were painted in 2024.
Review in Swedish with English translation.
