Peter Frie (born in Sweden 1947) is arguably one of the leading landscape painters in Sweden today. He has won many prestigious awards worldwide. In Sweden he is being represented by the internationally renowned art gallery, Galleri Lars Bohman.

“Peter Frie’s paintings are rooted in the long tradition of landscape painting, and especially in the way of depicting the landscape as a powerfully charged mood. The paintings manifest a powerful sense of place, but they also have a metaphorical dimension, so that any overly explicit link with a certain place tends to become blurred. Frie does not reproduce views, but paints memories. Peter Frie frequently arranges his painted theme so that it is part of a white painted ground, leaving this ‘empty’ space to act as a balancing factor that emphasizes the landscape theme. The large white areas flanking the depicted image permit a sense of expansion, like a screen behind which a continuation of the landscape will be revealed. They also have the capacity to concentrate the image, to intensify the spectator s scrutiny and his emotional response”. Jeremy Lewison, Director of Collections, Tate Gallery, London 1998.

In the manner of the nineteenth century British artists J.M.W Turner and John Constable, Frie creates contemporary landscapes that are unashamedly beautiful and intensely arresting. In the tradition of German artist Caspar David Friedrich, Frie’s landscapes are simultaneously intimate and expressive. His work also shares an affinity with other Northern Romantic artists such as the Norwegian painter Johan Christian Claussen Dahl (1788-1857) who sought to convey human emotion through his landscapes. (Oil on canvas on wood blocks from The New Art Centre in the UK).

Since 1988 Frie’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe. His work is included in the collection of the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, and the Friesichen Museum, Leeuwarden, Holland as well as private collections in Europe and the United States.

If you ever get an opportunity, do not hesitate to visit one of his exhibitions. I can guarantee you that you will not be disappointed. Peter Frie is a master painter and his abstract landscapes really capture the brilliance of the Scandinavian terrain.