An older man in a light blue shirt standing outdoors with greenery in the background, holding a bronze sculpture of a person with arms raised.

Richard Brixel (1949-2019) - Swedish sculptor with an international achievements

Richard Brixel was a Swedish sculptor whose work moves between monumental bronze, intimate figures and poetic narratives. He was born in Stockholm and worked internationally, but his artistic home was Brixelgården outside Arboga on the shores of Lake Hjälmaren, an artist’s residence with studios, galleries and a large sculpture park where works were tested in the same light and weather as in public spaces in Sweden and around the world.

His joy in creating was awakened early. As a child, his grandmother gave him clay and he began modelling animals, ships and eventually human bodies. The human figure became a lifelong companion, not as an ideal image but as a bearer of experience and movement. During his studies he deepened both craft and ideas: foundation courses at ABF and Idun Lovén in Stockholm, a period as a private student of Bror Marklund at the Royal Institute of Art, and an MFA from Konstfack. Alongside sculpture he studied philosophy, art history and law at Stockholm University, something that is reflected in the themes and resonance of his work.

Brixel described his art as a kind of metaphysical exploration, a space where dance, love, encounters, friendship, joy, power, oppression, liberation and death are given physical form. Bronze dominates his choice of material, sometimes combined with stone and other media. Surfaces shift between polished sections and tactile modelling, compositions have a strong sense of movement and work with contrasts between weight and lift. The result is figurative yet open, inviting the viewer’s own interpretations.

The Swedish landscape and the public domain became his most important stages. In Örebro, the public encounters Näcken outside the concert hall, the balancing figure in the city park and the memorial to racing driver Ronnie Peterson. In Tyresö, Winged Human rises on the square at Granängsringen. In Karlskoga and Askersund stand works that explore joy and the feeling of coming home. In Borås, the sculpture Passion Extreme clings to the rock face in a dramatic memorial. In Kumla, at Konst på Hög and at Kumla Golf Club, the themes of movement, force and play return. Stockholm, Arboga, Örebro, Tyresö, Karlskoga, Askersund, Kumla and Borås together form a clear geography in which people meet his works in everyday life.

At the same time Brixel was an international voice. The sculpture group Dream, three horses and three riders, was installed in the Olympic Park in Beijing in 2008. In China he also had major solo exhibitions, including at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. He returned as a visiting professor at Tsinghua University and took part in international sculpture parks and exhibitions in Europe and Asia. The global stage changed the scale but not the direction: the focus remained on the human being, on movement and on story.

Brixel also worked with paintings, drawings and lithographs. Whatever the medium, the sketch remained central, with pencil, brush and clay as the point of departure for what would later become bronze. He spoke of creation as a state of presence, where the artist is a tool and something larger is allowed to take shape. That is a legacy that lives on in the bodies of the sculptures and in the places where they stand, in Sweden and internationally.

Selected public works

  • Balans (1981-1985), City Park, Örebro

  • Metamorfos (1985), Sörbyängen, Örebro

  • Näcken (1987), Örebro Concert Hall, Örebro

  • Karyatid (1991), Smedjebacken, Örebro

  • Vingmänniska (1991), Granängsringen, Tyresö, Stockholm County

  • Bevingad gestalt (1992), Granängsringen, Stockholm

  • Vinge (1992), Serpentinparken, Ladugårdsängen, Örebro

  • Vänskap (1995), Örebro University, Örebro

  • Landmärke (1995), Örebro University, Örebro

  • Stendans (1995), Örebro University, Örebro

  • Quatro amici felici (1996), Karlskoga, Värmland

  • Hemresan (1996), Askersund, Närke

  • Makt (1998), Konst på Hög, Kumla, Närke

  • Löv (1999), Örebro

  • Golfspelare (2000), Kumla Golf Club, Kumla

  • Karyatid (2001), Konst på Hög, Kumla

  • e = m2 (2001), Eskilstuna, Södermanland

  • Blixten (2002), roundabout in Ludvika, Dalarna

  • Memorial to Ronnie Peterson (2003), Örebro

  • Den lyckliga filosofen [The Happy Philosopher] (2005), entrance square, Arboga, Västmanland

  • Dream (2008), Olympic Park, Beijing, China

  • Skönhet [Beauty] (2010), Kumla Lake Park, Kumla

  • Passion Extreme (2016), memorial to Tomas Olsson, Krokshallsberget, Borås

Selected international commissions and exhibitions

  • Dream (2008), Olympic Park, Beijing, China

  • Solo exhibition (2015), National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing

  • Solo exhibition (2016), 1+1 Art Centre, Beijing

  • Public sculpture Philosopher Surfing on the Wave of Future (2014), Qingdao, China

  • Participant, NordArt, Germany, several years

Brixelgården – artist’s home and sculpture park

  • Private sculpture park and museum environment by Lake Hjälmaren near Arboga, with studios and gallery spaces

  • Guided visits and large scale outdoor works shown in the same light and weather as in public settings

Education, in brief

  • ABF Art School and Idun Lovén (1963-1965), Stockholm

  • Private student (1966) with Bror Marklund, Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm

  • Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design (1967-1973), MFA in sculpture, Stockholm

  • Studies in philosophy, art history and law, Stockholm University

Selected collections

  • Örebro County Museum

  • Västerås Art Museum

  • Gothenburg Museum of Art