Cecilia Edefalk

CECILIA EDEFALK (Norrköping, Sweden, 1954).
“Terre Ciel Champagne,” 2023.
Ground limestone and chalk from Bergères-lès-Vertus, mixed with a tempera emulsion made with champagne (Birat), water, and cobalt blue pigment, on linen.
Provenance: Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin.
Measurements: 47 × 38 cm.

Particularly significant for the close relationship between material, place, and painting, “Terre Ciel Champagne” is part of a project in which Cecilia Edefalk physically incorporates the territory into the painting process. The limestone and chalk come from Bergères-lès-Vertus, in the Champagne region, and are combined with a tempera emulsion made from champagne, water, and cobalt blue pigment. Landscape and material thus cease to be separate elements: the place evoked by the painting becomes part of its own material composition.

The surface is built up through successive strokes and layers of blue and light mineral tones, creating transparencies, accumulations, and areas of varying density. The granular presence of the materials interrupts the painterly gesture and lends the canvas an almost geological quality, striking a balance between abstraction, landscape, and the physical experience of the material. In 2023, Edefalk presented *Terre, Ciel, Champagne* at HATT et SÖNER in Bergères-lès-Vertus, in the Champagne region—a context directly linked to the origin of the materials used in these works.

Works from this same series were presented by Galerie Nordenhake at ARCOmadrid 2025, confirming the continuity and relevance of this project within Edefalk’s recent body of work.

Cecilia Edefalk is one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Swedish painting. Trained at Konstfack and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, she participated in the 22nd São Paulo Biennial in 1994 and in Documenta 11 in Kassel in 2002. Notable among her solo exhibitions are those held at the Kunsthalle Bern, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Dia Art Foundation in New York. In 2018, she received the Ganneviksstipendiet, one of the Swedish cultural awards she has received throughout her career. Her work is included in collections such as those of the Art Institute of Chicago, Moderna Museet, the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, and the Göteborgs Konstmuseum.