Peter Dahl: Mercurii Triumf

The work was commissioned by then SSE President Staffan Burenstam Linder following SSE’s acquisition of the building at Holländargatan, which had previously served as the Stockholm University Student Union building.

The painting portrays a selection of figures connected to the history of the Stockholm School of Economics, including founder K. A. Wallenberg, Nobel Prize laureate Bertil Ohlin, and economic historian Eli Heckscher. It also includes a self-portrait of Peter Dahl depicted as Karl Marx and a portrait of the artist’s childhood friend and former SSE professor Gunnar Karnell as a child.

Among the most striking elements of the work are Uncle Scrooge and a two-headed, four-armed figure representing Hermes (Mercury in Roman mythology), the god of trade, commerce, and thieves. Both figures bear the SSE emblem on their chests as they enter the scene.

The painting combines historical portraiture, satire, mythology, and personal references. Characteristic of Dahl’s artistic practice, it balances humor, social commentary, and self-irony while exploring themes of power, economics, and society.

The history of the Holländargatan building adds another layer of context to the work. Before SSE acquired the property in the late 1980s, it served as the Stockholm University Student Union building and was the site of the widely discussed Student Union Occupation (Kårhusockupationen) of 1968. The occupation became one of the defining moments of the Swedish student movement and reflected broader international debates about education, democracy, and social change.

Peter Dahl (1934–2019) was a Swedish painter, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Born in Oslo, he moved to Stockholm during the 1940s. He studied at the Royal Institute of Art between 1958 and 1963 and later taught at Gerlesborg School, served as head of painting at Valand Academy in Gothenburg, and was Professor at the Royal Institute of Art from 1975 to 1979.

As a printmaker and illustrator, Dahl is particularly known for his celebrated interpretations of Carl Michael Bellman’s Fredman’s Epistles. Throughout his career, he combined expressive realism with humor, social observation, and an interest in both historical and contemporary subjects.