A history of dead ends: the historiography of early twentieth-century Swedish mural painting

Analysing the historiography of early to mid 20th century monumental painting in Sweden, the article argue that this historiography is characterised by a recurring interest of unactualised avant-garde proposals for public art (many of them preserved as sketches at Skissernas Museum – Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art in Lund). Sketches for these proposals are set forward as key monuments in the narrative, creating a paradoxical history of dead ends. This historiographic phenomenon is explained as the result of a centre-periphery thinking with Modernism as interpretive matrix, and the article concludes with a plea for a more diversified historiography embracing the heterochrony of time.