Large collection of Swedish contemporary art destroyed in fire in Älvsjö

The smell of fire smoke spread over large parts of Stockholm when a large industrial warehouse hotel burned down in the suburb of Älvsjö on May 28. What was not known at the time was that one of the largest collections of Swedish contemporary art was destroyed in the fire.

- The owner of the warehouse hotel called me late at night and said that there was a fire and that the fire brigade had just arrived there. At first I thought: "Oh, how boring." It was not in the idea that everything would burn up. But during the night he called again and said that the whole complex was in flames, says Henning Hummerdahl who is a gallerist at Galleri Hedenius.

Several hundred original works and thousands of lithographs were in the collections that Galleri Hedenius and the Michael Hedenius Foundation kept there. Peter Dahl, Ernst Billgren, Rolf Hansson, P G Thelander, Ulrik Samuelson and Madeleine Pyk as well as the American Donald Baechler are some of the prominent artists that were in the collections.

It is therefore about artists whose works go for from hundreds of thousands of kroner up to millions when they are sold at auction.

Henning Hummerdahl would rather talk about the irreplaceable aesthetic value of art than the sums that have been lost.

- The affect is much worse than the lost values. Especially with artists who are no longer alive. It's extra tragic in a way.

Throughout the summer, he has had to devote himself to valuing the lost art together with the insurance company, and the work on the valuation is still ongoing.

- It has taken an enormous amount of time and it is very boring to deal with things that have disappeared, he says.

Perhaps the saddest thing is that the large collection with around a hundred original works by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd is now gone.

- It was a large collection and very fine works, too. But you also must not knead it too much, but go ahead and try to invest even more in the contemporary artists instead.

Henning Hummerdahl has been in contact with all the artists who are affected.

- There has been fantastic support. They put almost no focus on themselves at all, but felt more sorry for us and hoped that it would work out in the best way. Although of course they think it's sad that their work has disappeared.

Despite the tragic fire, business in the gallery continues as usual.

- After all, we work with contemporary artists and have exhibition activities, do new projects and so on. So you try to think that it's just a matter of reinventing yourself and trying to develop the gallery as best you can anyway, says Henning Hummerdal.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.