Nils Dardel (or de Dardel)

Nils Dardel was a Swedish painter, dandy, and art purveyor who played an important role in the development of Cubism.

Born into a noble family, Dardel studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm from 1908 to 1910 before moving to Paris. He spent most of his time in France until 1939, when he emigrated to New York by way of Havana. He attended Henri Matisse’s Académie, a private art school in Paris, around 1910–11, but was disappointed by the school’s traditional methods of teaching. In the years before World War I, Dardel, along with other members of the Parisian avant-garde, frequented Montparnasse cafés where Cubism was a primary topic of conversation. At this time, Dardel met Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, and adopted a Cubist style in his paintings. He also became friends with art dealers Wilhelm Uhde and Alfred Flechtheim; Uhde took a particular interest in Dardel’s paintings. When Uhde’s stock was sequestered and sold on May 30, 1921, three of Dardel’s works were included in the sale.

Dardel is perhaps best known as the man who assembled the impressive art collection of Swedish collector Rolf de Maré, with whom he had an affair. The men met in 1912 and became close beginning in 1914. It was Dardel who interested his wealthy compatriot in modern art and began to look for great Cubist artworks for de Maré’s collection. Thanks to his network in the art world, Dardel was able to negotiate in 1914 the purchase of Picasso’s At the Lapin Agile (1905; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) for de Maré. The next year he also bought from Uhde, on de Maré’s behalf, Picasso’s The Mandolin Player (1911; Beyeler Foundation, Basel) and Bottle, Guitar and Pipe (1912; Folkwang Museum, Essen).

Dardel gained prominence through his stage sets for the 1920 productions of La Nuit de Saint-Jean (The Night of Saint Jean, also known as Midsummer Night’s Revel) and Maison de fous (Madhouse) for de Maré’s Ballets Suédois. Dardel worked for the dance company as artistic advisor and acted as an intermediary for collaborations with French artists such as Fernand Léger and pianist/composer Erik Satie. In the early 1920s, Dardel abandoned his bohemian lifestyle and married writer Thora Klinckowström; they had a daughter, Ingrid, who would later become an artist. Dardel’s paintings, which received posthumous recognition, are now mainly held by Swedish museums, such as his portrait of Alfred Flechtheim (1913; Moderna Museet, Stockholm) and his portrait of Rolf de Maré (1916; Hallwylska Museet, Stockholm).