The Film Club: Pontus Hultén, the Successes and the Brillo Scandal

After the film screening, the documentary’s director Ann-Linn Guillou will discuss Pontus Hultén’s influence on the art scene with Joanna Sandell Wright, Director of Liljevalchs, and John Peter Nilsson, Communicative museum strategist.

Pontus Hultén (1924–2006) was the director of Moderna Museet between 1960 and 1973. After studying art history in Paris, he began working at the museum in 1958, the same the year the museum opened to the public. In 1960 he became the director of the museum and almost immediately, he began to mould it into his own progressive form. Exhibitions such as “Movement in Art” (1961), “She – a Cathedral” (1966) and “Andy Warhol” (1968) are examples of legendary exhibitions that Pontus Hultén staged in Stockholm, at the time basically a small town on the edge of Europe.

By also establishing new museums around the world, such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Pontus Hultén created an unparalleled platform for modern art. The documentary “Pontus Hultén: Succéerna och Brilloscandalen” explores both his great successes and the controversial scandal surrounding Andy Warhol’s “Brillo Boxes” that tarnished his reputation after his death.

With unique insights from Lars Nittve, former director of Moderna Museet, Olle Granath, art critic and former director of Nationalmuseum and Moderna Museet, and Claes Britton, author of the biography “Pontus Hultén: Den moderna konstens anförare” (Pontus Hultén: The Captain of Modern Art), the documentary gives an in-depth picture of Pontus Hultén’s work and legacy.

Pontus Hultén put Sweden on the map by bringing the international stars of modern art here. At the same time, he was an interesting and contradictory person, who has fascinated me during the exciting work on the film. – Ann-Linn Guillou, director