Café Lilla Bommen
Artist
Ragnar Sandberg
(Sverige, 1902 - 1972)
Alternate Title
- Café Lilla Bommen
Date1938
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsBildmått: 72,5 × 90,5 cm
Ram: 76 × 93,5 × 3 cm
ClassificationPaintings
Credit LineDonation 1994 from Peggy Bonnier and Pontus Bonnier through The Friends of Moderna Museet
Countries
On view
StockholmRoomGallery 01:11
Object NumberMOM 753
CollectionsModerna Museets Vänner
About the artworkTime appears to have suddenly stopped in the middle of a rapid movement in Ragnar Sandberg’s fleeting image from the Café Lilla Bommen. Lilla Bommen is a lively marina and guest harbour, aswell as a district down by Göta älv in Gothenburg. Sandberg has used a muted palette and sketched the man to the right in buoyant, dark brush strokes. With a minimum of coloured highlights, he infuses the painting with tension – the green vase, the workers’ blue jackets and the ruddy faces of the men. The warm, yellow light from the window forms a distinct contrast between indoors and outdoors. The composition brings us close to the group gathered round a table in one of the many beer houses at the time. The waitress balances her tray high up near the white ceiling, and the man to the right drinks thirstily from one bottle, with another ready in his other hand.
Selected exhibition history Utopia and Reality. Swedish Modernism 1900-1960 (2002) Bard Graduate Center, New York Rosa segel. Svensk modernism i Moderna Museets samling (den 17 juni 2023 - den 3 augusti 2025) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Särskilda verk ur den svenska samlingen (1993-1994) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Utopi & verklighet - svensk modernism 1900-1960 (2000-2001) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Ingens hundar: svensk konst genom hundra år (1998) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Utopi & verklighet : svensk modernism 1900- 1960 : konst, arkitektur, fotografi, film, formgivning : [Moderna Museet 7 oktober 2000 - 14 januari 2001]
Selected exhibition history Utopia and Reality. Swedish Modernism 1900-1960 (2002) Bard Graduate Center, New York Rosa segel. Svensk modernism i Moderna Museets samling (den 17 juni 2023 - den 3 augusti 2025) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Särskilda verk ur den svenska samlingen (1993-1994) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Utopi & verklighet - svensk modernism 1900-1960 (2000-2001) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Ingens hundar: svensk konst genom hundra år (1998) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Utopi & verklighet : svensk modernism 1900- 1960 : konst, arkitektur, fotografi, film, formgivning : [Moderna Museet 7 oktober 2000 - 14 januari 2001]