Artist. A prolific Swedish expressionist painter, he emerged as a leader of the Swedish modernist artists from 1910 until his death. Born in Stockholm, Sweden to Jewish parents, he studied at a prominent Swedish art school as a teenager. At age 19, he moved to Paris, France to further study with artist Henri Matisse. The following year he gained recognition in Sweden when he exhibited his work with a group of Scandinavian artists called “The Young Ones.” During the 1920s he became widely known for his commercial achievements, including the stage designs for the Royal Swedish Opera and wall decorations at Stockholm’s Concert Hall and the Matchstick Palace. In 1932 he became an art professor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm, serving until 1942. In 1941 he established his own art school and during World War II he worked at the Rörstrand porcelain factory in Stockholm. In 1945 he was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal for outstanding artistic achievement. Among his many works include “The Crane” (1915), “The Boy in Blue” (1919), “Still Life with Yellow Flowers” (1939), and “The Easel by the Studio Door” (1944). He was killed in an aircraft crash along with his second wife near Oslo, Norway, at the age of 56. He remains the single artist among the modernists whose sales bring high annual income to Swedish art dealers. (bio by: William Bjornstad)