Experience Lövholmen with a method from the Romantic era – Claude glass walk

11 October 2023

Welcome to a Claude glass walk with artists and teachers Björn Lundell och Jacob Erixson

15.00–17.00

Claude glass is a pocket mirror with tinted surface named after the artist Claude Lorrain. The mirror was used during the Romantic period by artists, writers and intellectuals to observe landscapes and above all ruins during walks. The mirror would reproduce the sublime and melancholic mood seen in Lorrain’s paintings.

During the walk on Lövholmen, we follow in the footsteps of the romantics and view the area through our Claude glasses. The walk gives the participants the opportunity to stop, contemplate and take in Lövholmen’s culturally historically important buildings. Those who wish can also sketch, photograph or write about their experiences. Something that in turn opens up a discussion about the planned exploitation and demolition of buildings characteristic of Lövholmen.

More about Claude glass and Lövholmen

Claude glass is used by the viewer turning his back to the subject he wants to study, the mirror is held up in the air at eye level either slightly to the right or left, which then reproduces a reflection of what is seen over the shoulder. The mirror abstracts the landscape and, according to the 18th-century artist and writer William Gilpin, gives a soft and rich shift of the surroundings with painterly qualities.

Lövholmen is unique as it is one of Stockholm’s last centrally located industrial areas. The area stretches between Liljeholmen and Gröndal and has had a history as an industrial area since the 19th century. With the city’s new plan of transforming and developing Lövholmen into a residential area, the character of the place will drastically change and many of its unique and culturally historically important buildings and landmarks will disappear.

Landscapes like these are often overlooked and regarded as non-places where people usually do not stay for long periods but pass through without much thought about the topography of the place. The aim of the walk is for the participants to be given the opportunity to stop, contemplate, take in and really see the place for what it is. The idea is also to open up a wider dialogue about urban planning and our public spaces, how our shared cultural history should be preserved and how places like this can function as projection surfaces for alternative visions and dreams.

Photos: Jacob Erixson.