Photo: Mattias Berg 

Stockholm CityPoem: Citations, Strindberg

"Han kom som ett yrväder en aprilafton och hade ett höganäskrus i en svångrem om halsen" That is the opening sentence of the most famous novel in Swedish history, Hemsöborna av August Strindberg.

Since 1998, this one, and other citations of Strindberg run along Drottininggatan in central Stockholm, Sweden.

Strindberg and Drottninggatan

In 1908, Strindberg moved to his last home, The "Blue Tower" at No 85, Drottninggatan, Stockholm (now housing the Strindberg Museum). Here, he fell in love with Fanny Falkner, a young actress at the Intimate Theatre.

FA+ artists Ingrid Falk and Gustavo Aguerre painted citations from the turn-of- the century Swedish novelist August Strindberg along Drottninggatan in Central Stockholm during the first Strindberg Festival which was held in 1994. The artists wanted to represent Strindberg through his own work. Drottninggatan was a street that he often walked and where his residence was also situated. In addition, it is also one of the busiest shopping districts in Stockholm.

Schools, libraries, literary groups and academics suggested Strindberg quotations from which the artists made a selection. With the assistance of members from the Strindberg Foundation and the Friends of Open Air Theatre, 11000 letters from computer stencils were cut out by hand. Eighty-three citations were painted along a 1200 meter long stretch of pavement. Exposed to the elements, the painted text slowly eroded, but a public desire to see the text again on the streets of Stockholm in a permanent form remained.

When the decision to make a portion of Drottninggatan a pedestrianised area was finalised, the citations were made permanent. During the 1998 Culture Capital Year an 800 metre-long stretch of Strindberg citations was installed in the pavement along Drottninggatan. The actual citations are cast in stainless steel and have been installed in the asphalt.

Strindberg's text makes a surprising and refreshing effect to the by-passers as a beautiful alternative to the street's cacophony of texts offering sales pizzas and the endless buy buy publicity. The citations changed forever the street's choreography since you see the people walking with the heads turn down reading laughing and commenting to each other.

> See also http://www.fa-art.pp.se/Citat.htm

Photo: Dien Ho 

About August Strindberg 

Johan August Strindberg (1849-1912) was a Swedish writer, playwright, and painter. Along with Henrik Ibsen, Søren Kierkegaard and Hans Christian Andersen he is arguably the most influential and most important of all Scandinavian authors. Strindberg is known as one of the fathers of modern theatre. His work falls into two major literary movements, Naturalism and Expressionism.

A multi-faceted author, Strindberg was often extreme. His novel The Red Room (Röda rummet) (1879) brought him fame. His early plays were written in the Naturalistic style, and his works from this time are often compared with the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Strindberg's best-known play from this period is Miss Julie (Fröken Julie).

Later, he underwent a time of inner turmoil known as the Inferno Period, which culminated in the production of a book written in French, Inferno. He also exchanged a few cryptic letters with Nietzsche.

Strindberg subsequently broke with Naturalism and began to produce works informed by Symbolism. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Modern European stage and Expressionism. The Dance of Death (Dödsdansen), A Dream Play (Ett drömspel) and The Ghost Sonata (Spöksonaten) are well-known plays from this period.

Hemsöborna (Natives of Hemsö) is an 1887 novel by August Strindberg about the life of people of the island Hemsö in the Stockholm archipelago. Hemsö is a fictional island, but it is based on Kymmendö where Strindberg had spent time in his youth. Strindberg wrote the book to combat his homesickness while living in abroad in Germany and France. 

Photo: daniel donttouchpad