Summary

Despite the challenges of transporting art across ideological blocs in Europe during the Cold War, Polish art was exhibited comparatively often in Sweden. This also meant challenging the prevailing notion that aesthetic influence supposedly went from West to East. While museums, municipal art galleries and artists challenged this enduring bias, it remains a relatively unknown aspect of this significant period in the history of contemporary Swedish exhibitions. In an attempt to shed light on this period, this article examines the case of the Polish artist Władysław Hasior (1928–1999) within the context of the Swedish art scene between 1968 and 1989. Hasior exhibited several times in Sweden, and many artists testify to being influenced by his art. He opened up doors to Polish highland folklore and, for art critics, he epitomised Polish art in general. His exhibitions were also used by Swedish art institutions to build bridges in times of ideological and social division. These findings nuance the image of a divided Europe and deepen our understanding of the relations between nations, showing that the West-centric power relations of post-war modernism do not straightforwardly apply.

Read the article here: