To follow Einar Nerman’s life and career from a distance is nothing short of fascinating. It’s a journey that runs parallel to the emergence of modernism — not least in the visual arts, but equally within Western society at large, where the daily press chronicled world affairs alongside the leading figures of popular culture. Einar Nerman stood with one foot in each world.

He was born the son of a bookseller — a home that likely fostered intellectual discourse. One of his brothers would go on to become a journalist and poet, the other an archaeologist and author.

Einar himself dropped out of secondary school and instead enrolled at the Artists’ Association School in Stockholm. After his studies in the capital, he travelled to Paris to study under Henri Matisse. This was followed by theatre school in Sweden, complemented by dance lessons.

In the 1920s, he achieved a certain breakthrough with his caricatures of international celebrities, published in the magazine The Tatler. In the following decade, he was commissioned to design the logo for Solstickan — and it has been said that Nerman’s Solstickan boy is the most reproduced artwork in history.

At Stockholms Auktionsverk Malmö, we now encounter Einar Nerman as a visual artist — and more specifically, as a portraitist. In a handful of carefully executed child portraits, we are brought intimately close to the subjects, thanks to the gentle brush of a perceptive artist.

Warmly welcome!