There´s a certain madness in a painting and that´s necessary to make the painting feel right. When a painting`s nearly finished I try and make it feel wild, Bengt Lindström describing his own style. He will be 80 years old in 2005 and has been a creative artist for more than 60 years. – I´ve got a hell of a feeling for colour and form. As I work with what I enjoy most I´ve been able to increase that feeling to the limit within my self, says the world famous artist Bengt Lindström in this film.
Bengt Lindström left his hometown Härnösand in northern Sweden for Paris in 1947, where he started a sucessful and turbulent career as an artist. First he studied art in Stockholm and Copenhagen, then for a year in Chicago. But it was in Paris and Montparnasse that Bengt felt he´d found a haven, where he could develop his very own, unusual artistic expression. He´s met all the great post-war artists – Alechinsky, Appel, Corneille, Dubuffet and many others, but he has stuck to his own style of painting.
The filmmakers Dag Jonzon and Hans Östbom followed Bengt Lindström for 4 years in Paris, Copenhagen and in his studio in Sundsvall in order to create this portrait of the artist.
Michel Perrin, ethnologist, Collège de France, Paris – The power Lindström has, in terms of shape and colour, strikes you and reaches a part of your subconscious. Not only is nature present but all the conflicts too. The diversity of man is reflected in those eyes of monsters and creatures that confront you. Bengt Lindström has a very strong intuition. He has sincerity, strength and a vehemence, larger than himself, much stronger than he is. That´s what underlines the power in a Bengt Lindström painting. Many, many people are moved by that.
Sonja Martinson-Uppman, director Centre Culturel Suedois, Paris – Partly, there´s the shamanism aspect- his acting as as a “medium” to another world and this side of him is seen more often outside Sweden. And partly there is something that is subconscious, naïve and that too is linked to his deep inner flow.
Ole Lindboe, art critic, Copenhagen – One thing that the future will make much clearer, is the way Lindström conciously goes about his great works which are considered to be major Nordic image narrative and entirely unique.
