Sigrid Hjerten

Sigrid Hjertén (27 October 1885 – 24 March 1948), was a Swedish modernist painter. Hjertén is considered a major figure in Swedish modernism. Periodically she was highly productive and participated in 106 exhibitions. She worked as an artist for 30 years before dying of complications from a botched lobotomy for schizophrenia. Sigrid Hjertén's total production amounted to slightly more than 500 paintings, together with sketches, water-colors and drawings. Hjertén had to fight the prejudices of her time throughout her career. Her paintings seem extremely personal for the era in which they were made, when issues of color and form were uppermost in artists' minds. Her interest in humankind was often manifested in dramatic, even theatrical compositions, while her approach to color was emotional as well as theoretical.