About

Brita Granström was born near Eskilstuna in Sweden and studied at Konstfack in Stockholm. Although her Nordic roots remain self-evident in work made on location; both indoors and outdoors, and in all weathers, she has lived and painted in the UK since 1994. Her paintings are in private and public collections around the world and she has appeared on television and radio. She is represented by Thompsons Galleries and her work is also exhibited at other select galleries across the UK (see the Contact section for details).

Brita beautifully captures in her paintings those intimate and tender moments in everyday life, so often missed or ignored.

Graham Simper
Thompson's Galleries, Aldeburgh

Upcoming Exhibitions

Spring Exhibition
5-21 March 2025Thompson's Gallery
3 Seymour Place, London, W1H 5AZ
More info here

Annual Exhibition
14 June – 6 July 2025Thompson's Gallery
175 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP15 5AN
More info here

Christmas Exhibition 2025
23 November – 1 December 2025Godfrey & Watt, HarrogateMore info here

High Tide, Low Tide and everything in between
(joint exhibition with Mick Manning)
8-30 March 2024Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
More info here

Christmas Exhibition 2023
2 December – 7 January 2024Thompson's Gallery, Aldeburgh

Christmas Exhibition 2023
2-10 December 2023Godfrey & Watt, Harrogate

On a Small Scale
26 November – 27 December 2023Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh

Annual Exhibition 2023
10 June – 20 July 2023Thompson's Gallery, Aldeburgh

Affordable Art Fair, Battersea
20-23 October 2022Thompson's Gallery, LondonMore info here

Inscape; Re-opening the Shutters on Nature
9-26 March 2022Thompson's Gallery, LondonGranström’s third solo London exhibition was once again auto-biographical; a post-Covid follow-up to The Leaves of Lockdown. It was accompanied by a full-colour catalogue published by the gallery. Now sold out.More info here

The Leaves of Lockdown; Nature examined and Celebrated
12-26 September 2020Thompson's Gallery, AldeburghBrita Granström’s first solo exhibition at Thompson's Gallery (Aldeburgh). All work sold out.This autobiographical collection of Covid lockdown paintings was accompanied by a full-colour book The Leaves of Lockdown with a text written by the art historian Philip Vann and design by Spring House Design Associates. A small amount of copies are still available.More info here

Spring Flourish
21 May – 11 June 2022Twenty Twenty Gallery
4 Quality Square, Ludlow, Shropshire, SY8 1AR

I was enchanted by the exhilarating sweep of Granström's landscapes and seascapes, the adventurous freshness of the actual painting, and the unsentimental portrayal of very young children in wild natural surroundings!

Philip Vann
Author and art critic discussing Granstrom's exhibition Life in Landscape. Kings Place Gallery, London 2011.

Contact

Please direct any purchase enquiries to the following galleries that represent Brita Granström:Thompson's Galleries
3 Seymour Place, London, W1H 5AZ
13 Church Green, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2TW
175 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP15 5AN
Thompson's represent Brita Granström across their three galleries and also sell her work online here.
www.thompsonsgallery.co.uk


Open Eye Gallery
34 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6QE
www.openeyegallery.co.uk


The Old School Gallery
Foxton Rd, Alnmouth, Northumberland, NE66 3NH
theoldschoolgallery.co.uk
A selection of paintings available here.


Godfrey & Watt
25 St Hildas Road, Harrogate North Yorkshire, HG2 8JX.
Annual Christmas Exhibition held in November featuring select contemporary British artists. See their website for details and available works.
www.godfreyandwatt.co.uk


For any requests regarding interview, reproduction or usage please contact Brita Granström's agent Lucy Juckes: lucy@jennybrownassociates.comFor general enquiries use the contact form below:

Brita's heroes include Winifred Nicholson and Edward Ardizzone, and like them she carries with her that priceless gift; the stubborn, hard-won skill of drawing and painting from life.

Mick Manning
Author/Illustrator. Course Leader in Illustration 1990-97, Glasgow School of Art.

Biography

Born: Sweden 1969
British resident since 1994
Art Education: MFA. Konstfack, Stockholm 1989-94
(including an Erasmus Program visit to The Glasgow School of Art, Spring term 1993)


SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Dreams on a Summer Night, Thompson's Gallery, Aldeburgh 2024
Inscape, Thompson's Gallery, London 2022
The Leaves of Lockdown, Thompson's Gallery, Aldeburgh 2020
Behold, This Dreamer!, Gallagher & Turner, Newcastle upon Tyne 2018
Dreaming of Scotland, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 2017
Nocturnal Swimmer and other new paintings, Tanner & Lawson, London 2016
Love Letters, Gallagher & Turner, Newcastle upon Tyne 2015
Sea Salt & Sourdough, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 2015
The Night Swimmer, University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 2014
Butcher, Baker, Cockle Sweet-Maker, University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 2012
A Breath Of Fresh Air, University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 2012
Life in Landscape, Kings Place Gallery, London 2011
Undressed - Paintings from Life, University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 2008
New Paintings, University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 2006
Paintings, University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 2000


PAINTING AWARDS
Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Awards:
- Eggs, Exhibited at Kings Place Gallery 2017
- In the Kitchen, Exhibited at Kings Place Gallery 2015/Pallant House Gallery 2016
- Baking Sour Dough, Exhibited at Kings Place Gallery 2013
- Mother of Four, Purchased by the Ruth Borchard Collection 2011The People Show, University Gallery and Baring Wing, Newcastle upon Tyne:
- Brushing Hair, Second Prize 2008
- The Darkest Day, First Prize 2005
- Bridge Street, First Prize 2001


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Christmas Exhibition 2024, Thompson's Gallery, Aldeburgh
High Tide, Low Tide and everything in between (with Mick Manning), Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 2024
Christmas Exhibition 2023, Thompson's Gallery, Aldeburgh
Christmas Exhibitions, Godfrey & Watt, Harrogate 2023 (also 2015-2022)
On a Small Scale, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 2023
Annual Exhibition 2023, Thompson's Gallery, Aldeburgh
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea 2022
Spring Flourish, Twenty Twenty Gallery, Ludlow 2022
Highlights from Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester 2016
Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Collection: Next Generation, Kings Place Gallery, London 2015
Christmas Exhibition, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 2014
Pick & Mix, Dye House Gallery, Bradford 2014
Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Collection: Next Generation, Kings Place Gallery, London 2012
Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Competition, Kings Place Gallery, London 2011
Stacia Blake and 54 Friends, Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, Ireland 2011
Mark Hearld and Friends, The Scottish Gallery. Edinburgh 2009
Winter Landscapes, University Gallery and Baring Wing, Newcastle upon Tyne 2007
A Baker’s Dozen. A touring exhibition of 13 artists curated by Quentin Blake 2001-2002


PUBLICATIONS / FEATURED
Inscape. Exhibition catalogue. Full colour, 2022
The Leaves of Lockdown. Book. Full colour, 2020
Miranda's Notebook. Interview 2017
Lodestars Anthology: Sweden. Full colour photo reportage and interview 2016
Homes and Interiors Scotland. Feature. May/June Issue 2015
Your Paintings. The National Collection/BBC Website: Mother of Four
Butcher, Baker, Cockle Sweet-Maker. Exhibition catalogue. Full colour, 2012
Brita Granström, Paintings. Selected works. Full colour, 2011
Undressed. Exhibition catalogue. Full colour, 2008


BOOK ILLUSTRATION AWARDS
English Association Award, Winner, 2014
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Shortlisted 2014
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Shortlisted 2013
FEA, English Association Honorary Fellow, 2011
English Association Award, Winner, 2011
English Association Award, Winner, 2008
English Association Award, Winner, 2005
Oppenheimer Award, Platinum 2003 (USA)
Oppenheimer Award, Gold 2000 (USA)
English Association Award, Winner, 2000
TES Award, Winner, 1997
Nestle Award (Smarties Prize), Silver Award, 1996

This website is intended as a brief introduction to the work of Brita Granström. Most of the paintings documented here are already in private collections. Please send any enquiries to the galleries detailed on the Contact page. For any reproduction or usage requests please contact Brita Granström's agent Lucy Juckes: lucy@jennybrownassociates.com

© Brita Granström. All images are © Brita Granström, All Rights Reserved. All texts are © Brita Granström or specified authors, All Rights Reserved. Unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. Brita Granström photographs by Mick Manning & Diana Pappas.

Art Archive

Inscapes

... these much smaller, tautly condensed paintings, are also about Nature but ‘minutely examined and celebrated’, like Gerard Manley Hopkins focussing on what he called the ‘inscape’ and ‘instress’ of ‘dappled things.’
Philip Vann, August 2020, from the published book; The Leaves of Lockdown. Brita Granström’s Inscape Paintings from a Time of Crisis.

Landscapes

If there were an Alternative Turner Prize, devoted this time to what Turner actually did, which was to work outdoors in all weathers, Brita Granström would have to be a serious contender for it... Granström's painting is an art of affirmation and an art of healing. Shakespeare would have called it an art of 'largesse'.
Extract from William Varley; A Language Beyond Words for Brita Granström, New Paintings. University Gallery and Baring Wing, Newcastle, 2007.

People & Portraits

At times, playful, her work nevertheless has a pensive, perhaps haunting quality that touches on something beyond the narrative nature of the images.
Alex Godfrey, Godfrey & Watt, 2018...Granström’s 2013 self-portrait, Great-Grandmother’s Apron, exists, she says, ‘on one level, as a playful study of the negative spaces left by a dough cutter on a Formica surface – but the heart of the painting is a one hundred year-old apron passed down from my great granny – an unbroken bond between four generations of women who have worked hard, baking, cooking and cleaning. Am I painting myself, or my great grandmother?
Extract from an essay by Philip Vann commissioned by the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Collection. Granström's Mother of Four, was purchased in 2011 for the Collection. Philip Vann is the author of the critically-acclaimed Face to Face: British Self-Portraits in the Twentieth Century, published 2004.

Nudes

My subjects are women who have allowed me to observe their private moments: undressing, washing and bathing. I wanted flesh and light, I wanted to paint women who have looked life in the eye...
Brita Granström, in the exhibition catalogue for Undressed - Paintings from Life, 2008...in rehabilitating the tradition of documenting scenes of everyday Swedish life as exemplified by the (somewhat kitsch) paintings of the 19th century artist Anders Zorn, Granström records them as they go about their domestic tasks, putting their tights on, dressing and undressing or making coffee... or splashing water over each other as they bathe in a lake, sometimes nude in that surviving Swedish custom. This candour, this capturing of life as it happens has far more in common with Degas' unsentimental vignettes of women bathing, or for that matter ironing clothes.
Extract from William Varley's essay in the exhibition catalogue for Undressed - Paintings from Life, 2008

Printmaking

When printmaking I often revisit themes and compositions from paintings and sketchbooks; and by doing so, re-invent them.
Brita Granström

Drawings / Sketchbooks

Drawing from life no longer needs to happen only on paper; some apps are, in essence, a digital sketchbook... however, in my studio, a large cupboard is piled high with sketchbooks of all shapes and sizes...
Brita Granström