Erik's House - Lego

by Barbro Östlihn

Artist Barbro Östlihn (Sverige, 1930 - 1995)

Date1965

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsBildmått: 225 × 144 cm Yttermått: 226 × 145 × 3,5 cm

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchase 2003 with contribution from Anna-Lena Wibom

Countries

Sweden, United States, Frankrike

On view

Stockholm

RoomGallery 01:16

Object NumberMOM/2003/116

CollectionsGeometri

About the artworkA tower of blue, red and yellow Lego - Barbro Östlihn combines the reduced formal idiom of minimalism with the direct approach and bright colours of pop art. Instead of creating stacks of anonymous geometric volumes Östlihn portrays her son Erik’s toys in sharp detail. Erik’s House (Lego) was painted in New York, a few years after Östlihn moved there with her then husband, the artist Öyvind Fahlström. Their American colleagues, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg and Jasper Johns, introduced them to the dynamic New York art scene. Barbro Östlihn stayed in New York for 15 years. She was fascinated by the city’s architecture and photographed facades that she processed in her paintings.
Signatures, inscriptions and marks Östlihn 1965 Selected exhibition history Barbro Östlihn. Målningar från New York - Stockholm - Paris 1962-1983 (1984) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Den tredje handen. Maurizio Cattelan och Moderna Museets samling (den 24 februari 2024 - den 12 januari 2025) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Samlingsutställning 2004 - 2011 - I vår tid (2004 - 2011) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Pop konst design (den 29 juni 2013 - den 22 september 2013) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Barbro Östlihn : målningar från New York, Stockholm, Paris 1962-1983 : Moderna Museet, Stockholm : [21 januari - 4 mars 1984]

Works by the artist