Biography
Marie-Louise Ekman, born in 1944 in Stockholm, has since the 1960s developed a distinctive and resonant visual language that remains unmistakably her own. Her work often stages the everyday as both familiar and strange, transforming interiors into stages for life’s absurdity. Themes of domesticity, gender, and the playful yet deliberate subversion of structures and power recur throughout her practice.
Her extensive body of work spans painting, sculpture, glass art, costume design, and scenography for major stage productions, as well as writing, directing, and acting in films such as Mamma pappa barn and Hallo Baby, reflecting an unrelenting curiosity and a command of every medium she approaches.
Throughout her career, Ekman’s work has been exhibited widely in Sweden and around the world. Recent and notable presentations include exhibitions at the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, Millesgården in Stockholm, and Kulturhuset in Stockholm. Her practice also extends into significant public commissions, such as a permanent classroom installation at the Stockholm School of Economics, along with works for other prominent public spaces. In 2017, Moderna Museet in Stockholm devoted a major retrospective to her oeuvre, presenting nearly 350 works across painting, sculpture, and film.
Beyond her artistic production, Ekman has been a defining force in Swedish cultural life. She has served as Professor and later Principal of the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, and as Managing Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, positions that have allowed her to contribute meaningfully to Sweden’s cultural life. She was a member of the Swedish Arts Council from 1993 to 1996 and has been a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts since 1998.
Selected press
DN: Marie-Louise Ekman på Moderna museet
SvD: Marie-Louise Ekman i en klass för sig själv
DN: ”Marie-Louise Ekman – Filmer & pjäser” på Norrköpings konstmuseum
DN: ”Marie-Louise Ekman har gått loss med klottret, som en olydig elev”
