Lars Wallin Atelier at Artipelag: Couture Through an Artist's Eyes

Fashion has never been a separate world from my painting. Craftsmanship, materials and the small details of a well-made garment often find their way into my work, sometimes long after I have seen them. So when Artipelag opened Lars Wallin Atelier – 35 Years of Fashion Stories in March 2025, marking the 35th anniversary of his brand, I knew I wanted to see it with my own eyes. By then, I had already begun my series Organic Flows, and I was curious to see how his world would speak to mine.

Lars Wallin is one of the few Swedish designers working in true couture, and I have followed his work for many years. What draws me to it is not only the result, but the patience behind it. Walking into the exhibition, I was struck by how much every garment seemed to carry: a story, a decision, hours of hand work that you only notice when you stand close.

Seeing so many pieces gathered in one place changed how I looked at them. Next to each other, the dramatic evening gowns and the quieter, more minimal creations started a conversation. Some pieces impressed me through sheer scale and sparkle. Others moved me more, precisely because they held back. I found myself returning to the restrained ones, where a single seam or a choice of fabric did all the work.

There is something both beautiful and a little strange about seeing couture in a museum. A dress made to move with a body becomes a still object, lit and framed like a sculpture. It reminded me that the line between fashion and art is not fixed. It depends on how we choose to look. Artipelag's large, bright rooms gave each garment space to be looked at that way.

Artipelag itself is part of the experience. Before you even reach the halls, you pass pine forest, smooth rock and the open water of the archipelago, with the scent of resin and salt in the air. Around the building, the permanent sculpture park Skulptur i natur lets large works rise out of the landscape, by artists such as Jaume Plensa, Tal R and Klara Kristalova. Couture is slow by nature, and here it meets a landscape, and a sculptural presence, that feel just as unhurried.

That meeting felt close to my own work. Organic Flows grows from the same impressions: the movement of the sea, the forest through the seasons, the scents and textures of nature. In the series, I build up the forms layer by layer on linen until they take on an almost sculptural presence, as if they were shaped rather than painted. Seeing Wallin's garments, where fabric becomes form, confirmed the direction I was already on. My aim is for the series to grow to six to eight works in total.

I left Artipelag with new questions rather than answers, which to me is the sign of a good exhibition. How much detail can a surface hold before it becomes too much? When does ornament become meaning? Those questions now travel with me in the studio as the series continues to grow. The works painted before my visit already show the direction: Organic Flows, the painting that started the series, and its closest companion, Organic Flows II. Between them came Organic Flows I, and you can follow the same dialogue with nature across my oil paintings.

Lars Wallin Atelier – 35 Years of Fashion Stories was shown at Artipelag in 2025.