The salt and the brush

Rikard Lindström lived much of his life near the water. Born in Stockholm in 1882, he spent his early years absorbing the rhythms of the sea, even serving some time as a Royal Mail Sailor. This closeness to the coast shaped the way he saw the light on the waves and the movement of ships. His formal training began at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in 1901, but his eyes were often elsewhere, looking toward Copenhagen and Paris. In Copenhagen, he studied under Kristian Zahrtmann between 1902 and 1905, a period that helped refine his approach to color and form.

His work often focused on the maritime world. He moved through the Scandinavian coast, finding particular interest in the landscapes of Åland and Lofoten. In these places, he captured sailing ships and the shifting moods of the sea. His paintings frequently utilized an impressionist style to depict marine and landscape scenes. There is a certain directness in his brushwork, particularly in pieces like Canal Scene, where thin strokes in the sky meet thicker applications of paint on the water. Some of these works appear as if they were painted right there on the edge of the canal, with small holes at the corners of the paper suggesting he worked directly on-site.

A life of varied pursuits

Beyond the canvas, Lindström’s hands were busy with many different tasks. He was a man of letters as well as a painter, contributing columns to Dagens Nyheter and writing articles for Morgonbris. In 1923, he published his novel, Jakob Tengberghs öde. His interests even extended into the practicalities of daily life; in 1939, in Tyresö, he built a prototype of a composting toilet, an invention that would later become known as Clivus Multrum.

His social and professional circles were tied to the art community. He was a member of the Konstnärsförbundet, an association of artists who sought alternatives to the traditional methods taught at the Royal Academy. His exhibitions took him far from Stockholm, reaching galleries in Berlin, Venice, and the United States. While his paintings found homes in institutions like the Moderna Museet and the Gothenburg Museum of Art, his daily life remained rooted in the textures of his surroundings.

• Studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm
• Studied with Kristian Zahrtmann in Copenhagen
• Member of the Konstnärsförbundet artists' association
• Published novelist and newspaper columnist