Arne Isacsson / Watercolour Painter and Educator

Arne Isacsson has helped to renew interest in watercolour painting in the Nordic region. Within artistic education, he has made significant contributions as an educator, and at the age of 87 remains active as a teacher. To mark Umeå University awarding Isacsson an honorary doctorate and in recognition of his educational achievements, Bildmuseet is showing an exhibition of some twenty watercolour paintings selected by the artist himself.

Isacsson’s motifs are close to nature, taken from the cliffs and sea of Bohuslän. Some of his works are watercolour monotypes, a unique technique developed by Isacsson himself in which water-soluble paint is pressed between two translucent sheets of paper and laminated between thin sheets of glass. The creates a sense of transparency, and the works can be viewed from two sides.

By giving the watercolour technique its own language, Isacsson has encouraged watercolour painters to use the specific character of each individual colour. Isacsson has concluded that each paint pigment behaves differently, and that the properties inherent in the pigments can be released and enticed to appear in rich flows of water. He has taken a particular interest in the eventful course of the drying process.

Arne Isaksson (born 1917) is one of Sweden’s best-known watercolourists and art educators. As founder of the Gerlesborg School, he has created an important institution for art education. Isacsson has also published textbooks on watercolour techniques.