Accompanied by a new friend I visited Millesgården yesterday.
Having just paid the entrance fee and stepped onto the beautiful terrace overlooking a vast industrial area of Stockholm I stopped …“NO, wait a second, not THAT Milles!?? Not ‘the creator of the ugliest piece of crap sculpture ever made’-Milles / ‘the bane of Gothenburg’-Milles??!” But, alas, to my embarrassment it was indeed that very man, and I was (am) now contributing to his legacy of contrived highly distasteful baroque “art”.
Luckily my companion presents ample allure and easily makes wonderful even a visit to a cultural garbage dump. It all turned into an excellent opportunity to get to know one another better.
There was however a nice surprise to be found at Millesgården, the only reason I’m actually writing this – Somewhat tucked away in one of the buildings were a small number of quite masterly drawings and one painting, all made by Olga Milles, the woman who suffered from the misfortune of being the wife of the highly inflated Carl.
(self portrait)
These pieces are a delight and in my eyes easily the main attraction on show.
Ironically, Olga’s artistic ambition and productivity all but died after she married Carl, next to whom she considered herself insignificant. “Olga Milles always scrutinized her artistry with great uncertainty and self-criticism, while Carl Milles never doubted his greatness.”
Hardly a shocker, yet very tragic.
