Gunnel Wåhlstrand: The Astonishing Clarity of Artist Gunnel Wåhlstrand

Simon Chilvers, Vogue, May 8, 2025
From a distance, the ink wash paintings made by Swedish artist Gunnel Wåhlstrand could conceivably be photographs. Even as you step closer and let them pull you in—perhaps with a wondrous slash of dancing light on water, or an incredible hairdo—the idea of them being entirely handmade seems almost implausible. From a portrait of the artist’s mother, captured in a lilac dress and strands of delicate stones around her neck, to an elegantly spare Swedish coastline, Wåhlstrand’s intense, evocative work simultaneously moves, transports, haunts, and mystifies.