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Update 10 Apr 2022
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Nils Dardel

Short biography


Nils Dardel
Nils Elias Kristofer von Dardel — who signed Nils Dardel — is a post-impressionist Swedish painter. He was born on 25 October 1888 in Bettna (Södermanland, Sweden) and died in New York on 25 May 1943 from a heart attack. His grandfather, Frederick (Fritz) von Dardel, was the painter and chamberlain of the king of Sweden.

He studies at the Stockholm Royal Academy of Arts from 1908 to 1910. He moves to Paris in 1910, and remains there most of the time until 1939. While in Paris, he travels to North Africa, Japan, Peru and Mexico. In 1940, he leaves for New York via Cuba.

His life in Paris is hectic and bohemian and dandy-like; he makes friends with a fellow Swede, Rolf de Maré, who is well-off and would later create the Ballets Suédois, for which Nols designs several sets. He meets with fellow artists in Montmartre and Montparnasse. In 1920, he gets secretly engaged to Nita Wallenberg. He marries Baroness Thora Klinkowström in 1921. She is a Swedish artist living in Paris as well. Modigliani made her portrait in 1918 (see below).

He tries several techniques of fellow painters: cubism (only briefly, see the Senlis "rue de Paris" below), fauvism with pure colours (see the "Black Diana"), surrealism. However, he is basically a figurative painter and produces numerous portraits, and — in the 1920s — burlesque scenes with multiple characters. In later years, he will return to a more traditional realism (see the Mexican portraits).

In the 1930s, Nils Dardel meets the writer Edita Morris (née Toll in Sweden) and shares his life — at least partially — with her until his death. One of several portraits of Edita is shown below.

Nils Dardel's paintings are shown in various museums in Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, Oslo and Hamburg. His most famous work, "The Dying Dandy" was sold in 1984 for the sum of 3.4 million Swedish crowns, at the time the highest price paid for a painting by a Swedish artist. The record was broken in October 2012, when the painting "Waterfall" was sold for 25 million crowns (2.9 M€ or 3.7 M$). See both works below.

See also Nils von Dardel's timeline (PDF).


Gallery

Click on each thumbnail for a larger version and details of the picture. The works are sorted by date. Some of the dates are approximate: I determined these based on the artist's style.


Self-portrait

Boy's head

Man's portrait

Farm girl

Dandy with sword

Girl in blue

Portrait of boy

My father

Philip Fromén

Dialogue

Self-portrait 1911

Self-portrait 1911

Elsa von Dardel

Male model

Svea Cervin

Two girls

Street in Senlis

Ships

Unknown title

Iron ball

Nybroviken

Alfred Flechtheim

Church in Senlis

Einar Jolin

Red mill

Maurice Rostand

Maurice Rostand (2)

Portrait 1913

Street in Senlis

Tobacco shop

Bertil Reuterskiöld

Gustaf Hellström

Jacques Hébertot

Cattle herder

Ulla Bjerne

A lady

David and Goliath

Rolf de Maré

In the trench

Tourists in Teneriffa

Nita Wallenberg

Ambiguous companion

The deer

Japanese girl

Broken statue

Broken statue

David Sprengel

Crime passionnel

Komposition 1918

Conversation

Nybroviken

Peacocks

Courting

Black and white

Ellen Roosval

Ellen Roosval

Execution

Jean Börlin

Jean Börlin

Without pardon

Boy and girl

Dance with Death

The father

Venus and Cupid

Aina Stuart

Crime passionnel

Excentric lady

Dancing floor

The coachman

Dreams

Bowling

Self-portrait 1923

Corsica

Magnolia

My daughter

Thora Dardel

Hjalmar Bergman

Philippe

A sitting man

Idyll

Playgrounds

Bronia Perlmutter

Tile unknown

Bronia

Gaby

Paranoid

Eva Bonnier

Lucienne and her mirror

Trégastel

White shawl

John Blund

African girl

Joen Lagerberg

La Bneia

Two girls

Aysha

A heart in flames

Armenian girl

Cocktail

Geraniums

Young girl

Marthe

Russian girl

Tollie Zellman

The angler

Angler's head

Grashopper

Young man

Snake

Papazoff

Wedding trip

Karin Anderp

Scarecrow

Scarecrow

Two young ladies

Self-portrait 1935

Model study

Turkish man

Mexican girl

Cissi Olsson

Edita Morris

Eugénie

Sunset

Malin Sievert

The fortune teller

Vera Valdor

Angelita Velez

Coal porter

Conrad Pineus

No title

Sicilian

Martin Aronowitsch

Tzed

Mexican girl

Mexican girl with boy

Mexican boy

A murderer

Mexican boy

Mexican man

Mexican girl

Mexican girl

Mexican lady

Mexican woman

Mexican girl

Heart family

Indian

Indian

Guatemalan

 

Tightened belt

Funeral in Senlis

Sofia's funeral

Alkibiades

Salvation Army

Street in Paris

Hotel in Rättvik

Summer

Summer

Salvation army

Atlantic harbour

Atlantic harbour

The dying dandy 1

Japanese dandies

Bayadères

The dying dandy 2

Transsiberian

Fantasy head

Summer Sunday

Death hussars

Drowned girl

The bar

Mid summer night

Picknick

Reception

Waterfall

Family idyll

Columbus' egg

Black Diana

Interior

Lucienne

Ole Lukøje

Mexican steinbock

Sonja Jablonska

Black Diana

Headhunters

Headhunters

Irish girl

Village

Little Christmas Eve club

Death servants

Nymph

Ingrid von Dardel

 

Nils Dardel
by Ivan Constantin

Nils Dardel
by Marie Laurencin

Thora Dardel
by Modigliani

A work by
Ingrid von Dardel

 
195 works shown here.


A few photographs


Nils & Thora rue Lepic

Terrace rue Lepic

Nils and Ingrid

R. de Maré & J. Börlin

Nils in 1930

 

Links

Nils Dardel

If you have more pictures of this artist, or if you dicover errors in this page, send me a note (yellow envelope).

The music you are hearing if you have clicked on the small icon at the top of this page is "Maple Leaf", by Scott Joplin.

This page was prepared by François de Dardel.


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