Tora Vega Holmström

Tora Vega Holmström was a Swedish modernist painter known for her portraits, still lifes, and landscapes, mainly executed in oil paint or pastel. Initially working in a style dictated by the national romanticism of the times, her output eventually matured with critical and important influences coming from early 20th-century modernism, with cubist, expressionist, and sometimes even surrealist features.

Her travels in Europe and North Africa played an important part in her artistic development, where her direct contact with Adolf Hölzel (1853–1934, German painter who started out as a realist but later became an early promoter of various modern styles, including abstract art) and his school in Dachau, Germany, proved especially decisive for her scientific conception of colour and contrasts.

Holmström grew up at Hvilan Folk High School (an institution for adult education, generally not granting academic degrees and most commonly found in the Nordic countries as well as in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria) in Åkarp, Sweden. The school, run by her parents, was not only Sweden’s first folk high school but also a dynamic intellectual environment where the great topics of the day were discussed. As early as the 1870s, courses were also offered to women, which was very unusual. All of this helped shape Holmström’s belief in herself in her quest to become a painter.

Holmström initially trained at Gipsskolan in Copenhagen (1896-1897) before she became a student of Carl Wilhelmson (1866-1928, Swedish painter, art teacher, and eventually professor at the Swedish Royal Academy of Art) at the Valand School of Painting in Gothenburg, Sweden (1900-1902). Wilhelmson famously depicted Holmström in Målarinnor /Female Painters (1902, oil on canvas, 149 x 124 cm, Thiel Gallery, Stockholm), an allegory of the uncertainty and struggle of being an artist, in which Holmström is depicted together with fellow students Adelheid von Schmiterlöw (1875-1959) and Hanna Borrie (1873-1944). This was followed by studies for Adolf Hölzel in Dachau (1903) and Stuttgart (1924).

Her first extended trip abroad, to Paris in 1907, where she studied at Académie Colarossi for six months,under the tutelage of Christian Krohg (1852–1925, Norwegian naturalist painter and author who was the director and served as the first professor at the Norwegian Academy of Arts from 1909 to 1925) and saw paintings by Henri Matisse in private collections, was also undertaken together with her friends from Valand, Adelheid von Schmiterlöw (who, as the daughter of a wealthy landowner, paid for Holmström’s trip) and Hanna Borrie, under the group name Trois Mousquetaires.

On the topic of ‘group names’, it should also be mentioned that Holmström belonged to De tolv (The Twelve), a group of modernist artists who all came from the Swedish region of Scania (with the exception of Jules Schyl, who was born in Denmark) and were born between 1880 and 1900. The members came together in 1921 in Paris, where they had studied at the Académie Colarossi. Several members of the group had also studied under the French artist André Lhôte (1885–1962, French Cubist painter of portraits, landscapes, and still lifes, also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art). The group held its first joint exhibition at Malmö Museum, Malmö, Sweden, in 1924 and enjoyed great success. By 1934, however, the group had dissolved.

Holmström had a flair for languages and came to acquire an international network that extended far beyond what was usual for a Swedish artist at the time. Over the years, the female network expanded to include artists such as Ester Almqvist (1869–1934, Swedish artist who was a pioneer of Expressionist painting in Sweden), Ellen Trotzig (1878–1949, Swedish artist who based herself in Österlen, Scania, in the south of Sweden, and became known as the ‘first female painter of Österlen’), and Agda Holst (1886-1976, Swedish painter who studied under Christian Krohg and Andre Lhôte).

Ever the avid traveller (after her first visit to Paris, in 1907, she famously wrote, ‘I long to go everywhere in the world…’), Holmström never really settled anywhere (even though she rented three rooms in Lund, Sweden, in 1939 and kept these throughout her life). Holmström would often ambulate, spending time in rented studios in Stockholm, visiting her sister in the north of Sweden (sometimes for six months at a time), and, between 1937 and 1962, keeping a modest and inexpensive (Holmström was often short of money) studio (for use in the summer) in the beautiful surroundings of Kåseberga, Scania, in the south of Sweden. To this could be added several trips abroad, to countries like Finland, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Algeria (back then still a French colony). Marseille, in the south of France, in particular, became a second home for her, a rough harbour city burdened by unemployment and social problems. Here she found characterful faces and new motifs that she would vary over many years. Holmström continuously travelled, well into her late sixties, visiting places like Paris, Marseilles, Tunis, and Carthage. During the 1950s, however, her rheumatoid arthritis left her bedridden for long periods, during which she painted abstract compositions (using pastel crayons, since these were easier to hold), inspired by her mentor Adolf Hölzel.

Holmström’s various trips awoke her inexhaustible interest in people and in the major social and societal issues of the day. This is illustrated by one of her (nowadays) most celebrated works, Främlingar/Strangers (1913-1914, oil on canvas, 78.5 x 73.5 cm, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, MOM/2005/88), depicting a woman and a child belonging to a group of impoverished Italian guest workers in the harbour of Stockholm. The painting contains a number of features that came to characterise Holmström’s work. It contains the theme of strangers and the image of mother and child, a theme she would return to in a long series of paintings later in life. The facets, which resemble mosaics in the picture, are reminiscent of the cubism that had developed on the continent. The woman expresses strength, while the nudity conveys her vulnerability and that of the child.

The painting was exhibited in London as well as at the Baltic Exhibition in Malmö in 1914, where it received negative criticism for its modern expression. Other paintings by Holmström, characterised by their bold colour combinations, also provoked strong reactions, being considered brutal and ‘unfeminine.’ This kind of criticism would unfortunately follow her for much of her life.

Undeterred by the criticism from the Baltic Exhibition, Holmström continued to exhibit. Some of her solo exhibitions include Gummesons konsthall (Gummeson Gallery), Stockholm (1918 and 1927); Malmö Museum, Malmö, Sweden (1930); Skånska konstmuseum (Scania Art Museum), Lund, Sweden (1938); and Galerie Moderne, Stockholm (1938). Holmström was also a member of the Skåne konstförening (Scanian Art Society) and exhibited through them for 50 years, the last time being in 1965. A commemorative exhibition of her work was held at Malmö Konstmuseum (Malmö Art Museum), Malmö, Sweden, in 1967, the year that she died. More recent exhibitions of her work include Tora Vega Holmström. Jag längtar till överallt i världen at Moderna Museet, Malmö, Sweden (6 June-31 August 2014) and Tora Vega Holmström. Spegling är första steget mot konst at Thiel Gallery, Stockholm (10 September 2022-29 January 2023).

Holmström is represented at Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Malmö Art Museum, Malmö, Sweden; Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg, Sweden; Helsingborg Museum, Helsingborg, Sweden; Kulturen, Lund, Sweden; Norrköping Museum of Art, Norrköping, Sweden; Gävleborg County Museum, Gävle, Sweden; and Ystad Art Museum, Ystad, Sweden.

Hvilan Folk High School, where Holmström grew up, changed its name to Tora Vega Folk High School in 2023.