Klara Kristalova:
Artwork: Efter ett långvarigt snöfall (After a Long-Lasting Snowfall), 1994.
Klara Kristalova creates worlds that feel both familiar and strange, inhabited by characters who appear solitary, vulnerable, and suspended between reality and imagination. Her figures often seem as though they have stepped out of a fairy tale or a dream, carrying traces of uncertainty, longing, and transformation.
Drawing on Nordic folklore, myths, and storytelling traditions, Kristalova explores fundamental human emotions such as fear, love, sadness, and guilt. Her works evoke memories and emotional states that feel both personal and universal.
Although landscapes are rarely depicted directly, nature plays a central role in Kristalova’s artistic universe. Forests, animals, and natural environments are often present indirectly through the figures, narratives, and atmospheres that shape her sculptures, drawings, and installations.
Klara Kristalova (born 1967 in Prague, Czech Republic) lives and works outside Norrtälje, Sweden. She studied at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm between 1988 and 1993.
After establishing herself through exhibitions and public commissions in Sweden, Kristalova gained international recognition during the late 2000s. She has since presented solo exhibitions at institutions including SITE Santa Fe (2009), SFMOMA, San Francisco (2011), Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2012), Göteborgs Konstmuseum (2013), Västerås Konstmuseum (2013), Norton Museum of Art, Florida (2015), and GL STRAND, Copenhagen (2017).
Her works are represented in public collections including Centre Pompidou in Paris, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Broad Art Museum in Michigan, FNAC in Paris, EMMA in Espoo, and the Norton Museum of Art in Florida.
In 2026, Klara Kristalova will represent Sweden at the Venice Biennale Arte.