Markus Andersson

Markus Andersson, born 25 February 1968, is a Swedish figurative painter. He works with oil and watercolour. He was educated at Konstskolan Basis, Heatherley School of Fine Art, Konstskolan Idun Lovén and has studied under Odd Nerdrum.

In 2006 he came to public notice in Sweden when 22 of his paintings were exhibited at Moderna Museet in Stockholm. This turned out to be controversial due to the connotations of his works, some of which were landscapes in a traditional style, and some of which depicted politically charged people such as Daniel Wretström, Pim Fortuyn, Theo van Gogh, Christer Pettersson and Mijailo Mijailović. The latter paintings went under the collective name "Syndabocksserien" ("the scapegoat series"). The art critic Mårten Arndtzén at Sveriges Radio described Andersson's paintings as "tasteless, politically suspect and poorly executed". Dagens Nyheter's art critic Ingela Lind said that "his art is National Socialist – or at least moves in the vicinity of that culture. I know quite a bit about the art of the Third Reich, and I see the same codes in Andersson's paintings." Dorinel Marc, who was responsible for inviting Andersson to the museum, said that "Markus reflects a part of Sweden that isn't allowed to speak for itself. It is my duty as an immigrant who is allowed a platform to also give him space."

Andersson's 2007 solo exhibition at Konstnärshuset in Stockholm was reviewed in Aftonbladet by Katrine Kielos under the heading "Deep-brown cultural twilight". Kielos called Andersson "a completely untalented art class teacher far out on the xenophobic right wing".

Andersson has rejected the media's epithets for him, and instead described himself as a political individualist and "slightly anarchist". He has criticised contemporary art criticism for being dominated by journalists who lack knowledge about the craft, and therefore are unqualified to judge art by any other measurement than political correctness.

For several years, he has been in a legal dispute with the photographer who took the original picture of Christer Pettersson which was used for Andersson's painting. The Tingsrätt convicted Andersson for copyright infringement in 2014, but in 2015 he was acquitted in the Hovrätt. The case has been accepted by the Supreme Court.

Andersson runs his own art galley named Galleri Sörängen (formerly Theoderik Hall), located outside Uppsala.