Author: Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Today, 13 April 2021, begins the holy period of Ramadan. Millions of Muslims around the world will be celebrating today. The festival involves a month of prayer and fasting. Ramadan is the name of the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. It is also one of the Five Pillars of Islam – the principles which Muslims believe are compulsory acts ordered by God.

Ramadan is a time when Muslims are encouraged to give to charity, strengthen their relationship with God, and show kindness and patience. During this month, believers also head to the mosque for an additional night prayer called Taraweeh, only held during Ramadan.

‘Shaum’ – or fasting during daylight hours is considered to be an act of worship, which enables Muslims to feel closer to God and strengthen their spiritual health and self-discipline. It is also intended to build empathy for those less fortunate. Followers eat a meal before dawn, and then break their fast after sunset with a meal called ‘iftar’ or ‘fitoor’.

So, how does this work in Sweden – a place where daylight hours can be very long? Well, it is more difficult to do Shaum if Ramadan lands in the month of June. In June, in the North, there is no dawn and sunset – but instead the Midnight Sun. This would mean that people would not eat or drink for a long period – which is not sustainable. Nor is the intention that people should overly suffer. In these instances, it is recommended to choose a city (such as Malmö for example) and follow their timings, even if you you yourself are sitting way up north in arctic Kiruna.

However, this year Ramadan is in April, which means that those fasting in the north of Sweden will have to not eat or drink between 04.55 and 20.24 – which, if you ask me, is tough enough.

If you’d like to wish somebody a Happy Ramadan, you can say “Ramadan Kareem,” which translates into “Have a generous Ramadan,” or “Ramadan Mubarak,” which roughly translates into “Happy Ramadan.” On the last day of Ramadan, which is Eid-al-fitr, the greeting changes to “Eid Mubarak.”

Anders Zorn was born 1860 in Mora, county Dalarna. He is considered one of the most significant Swedish artists throughout history.

His works hang in several museums in Sweden, including the National Museum. He is also exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Musée D’Orsay in Paris. Additionally, his portrait of President William Taft from 1911 is displayed in the White House in Washington DC. He also painted acclaimed portraits of Presidents Cleveland and Roosevelt.

Zorn was often away from Sweden and sought inspiration in Europe, USA, North Africa and Russia. He was internationally and critically revered and honored with many Swedish and international awards. He is renowned for his paintings of voluptuous naked women, countryside scenes, festivities and portraits. One of his most famous paintings is Midsummer Dance.

Zorn was known to be self-confident, gluttonous and chauvinistic. He loved to drink, smoke and party. Notoriously unfaithful to his wife Emma, he even invited one of his mistresses into their home in Mora. By all accounts his wife tolerated his bohemian lifestyle, although they lived separately for most of their lives.

Zorn’s exploits led to him contracting syphilis and his hedonistic ways contributed to an early death from blood poisoning aged 60 in 1920. Earlier the same year he and his wife founded the Bellman Prize – an award that still exists today and is awarded for excellence in poetry.

When Emma Zorn died some 22 years later, their house – Zorngården- became a museum and gallery, which is today one of Sweden’s most popular tourist destinations.

Rolf de Maré was born 1888 in Stockholm into a wealthy family. He is one of the most important Swedish cultural profiles of the 1900’s, renowned for being an influential collector of art, a dance impresario and the founder of the world’s first museum of dance.

Rolf de Maré had the financial means to fulfill his dream of being a patron of the arts, and as such he could travel all over the world. On his many trips, he bought art directly from the artist. Among his collection, he purchased works from Picasso, Braque and Léger.

In 1920, he started the avant-garde Swedish Ballet in Paris. The Ballet was a creative power that aimed to combine dance, drama, painting, poetry, music, circus, film and pantomime, and attracted talent such as Jean Cocteau.

Rolf de Maré loved living in Paris, by all accounts. Here he could live openly as gay; something that was impossible at that time in close-minded Sweden. He had a series of romantic liaisons, the most notable with the artist Nils Dardel.

In 1933, Maré founded the world’s museum and research institute for dance, also in Paris. The museum gathered material and records about dance from all over the world. During this period he became a powerful and celebrated person on the French culture scene – and was responsible for launching the career of the legendary Josephine Baker.

After the Second World War, he attempted to hand part of the material from his dance museum archives to the Paris Opera. They took 6,000 books which are today stored at the Opera’s library. However, they did not want the rest of the material. As a result, information on the Swedish Ballet and some other documentation ended up in Stockholm at the Dance Museum, which he founded in 1953. This material can still be seen today. His modern art collection is on display at Stockholm’s Museum of Modern Art.

Rolf de Maré died of a stroke in Barcelona in 1964 and is buried at Gustaf Vasa church in Stockholm. Next to the Dance Museum is a restaurant called in his honour ‘Bistro Rolf de Maré’. The bistro has French and Swedish classic dishes on the menu. As he was grandson to the incredibly wealthy Wilhemenia von Hallwyl, also a patron and collector of the arts, a beautiful portrait of him hangs in the grandiose Hallwylska House in Stockholm. The painter? His beloved Nils Dardel.