Διαβάστε αυτό το ποστ στα ελληνικά.
The island of Gotland, in the Baltic Sea, is 1 hour away by bus and 3.5 by boat from Stockholm and we spent some days of our trip there. It’s a big and beautiful island, full of impressive scenery and complex history (~100 medieval churches throughout the island, to say the least).
We did many lovely things while there, from walking around the narrow streets of the capital, visiting museums and sights, admiring rock formations during excursions to the south of the island, but there is one place I want to talk about in this post which is more relevant to the theme of Paper Station. The museum of artist Lars Jonsson in Vamlingbo, South Gotland.
The museum is housed in an old vicarage, built in 1779, and Vamlingbo cathedral, built in the 13th century, is located next to it. The various other buildings in the site house small museums and galleries and all together they create a cultural space in which visitors can experience a variety of themes.
The museum is housed in the largest building and it has a cafe and shop. During the summer its garden is open to the public, in the back of the building, and visitors can enjoy their lunch outdoors.
We visited the area, the church and the museum on a lovely sunny spring day and it was the best thing. We sat in the garden and had lunch there (the most delicious salmon sandwich I’ve ever tried), under tall trees and with the sounds of nature surrounding us. After that we entered the museum to admire Lars Jonsson’s beautiful works.
Born in 1952, Lars Jonsson is an artist, writer and ornithologist, he has released many books on birds with his own illustrations and has presented his work in many exhibitions over the years. The museum has operated since 2004 and the artist himself and his family are managing it – in fact he gave us our tickets when we visited and his (I suppose) wife helped him with the credit/debit card machine. From his works it is obvious that he has a great passion about his subject matter. I read that he observes birds in nature and sketches them right there, out in the open. His works are vibrant, with beautiful colors, from the smallest depicting only birds to the largest showing the birds and their habitat.
I feel really lucky that I was able to visit this place and I’m sure it will remain in memory for a long time.
~ ~
More posts from my trip to Sweden:
Paper Station 
3 thoughts on “Lars Jonsson – the artist who draws birds”