In a spacious Palma de Mallorca apartment, two self-described ‘art nerds’ have created a charmingly casual home that is also filled with spectacular contemporary art

‘Since we are art nerds,’ says Stefan Lundgren, ‘everything revolves around art.’ Spend just a short time in the apartment in the historical centre of Palma de Mallorca that gallerist and collector Stefan shares with his wife Parnilla, children Lukas and Axel – and the family’s dogs, Nilla and Fannie – and you will realise that this is anything but an idle boast.

In marked contrast to the weatherworn tonal colours that characterise the peaceful surrounding streets, and which continue up the serene old staircase that leads to the Lundgrens’ front door, once inside their home, a visitor’s first impression is one of bright colours and arresting shapes. The entrance hall is where the at-home art show kicks off: the works on display here include a sculpture by Ry Rocklen, paintings by Gerald Davis, Clare Rojas, David Noonan, Jonas Wood, Georg Herold, Bigert & Bergström and Lars Nilsson, photographic works by Sara VanDerBeek and James Welling, a mixed-media piece by Justin Lieberman and a Nicolas Ceccaldi video work.

Through the entrance hall, a series of rooms – each of which opens onto the next and which are separated by wide wooden doorways – draws the spellbound visitor through the apartment. Another two rooms entirely devoted to artworks succeed the first (different owners might well have had formal living and dining spaces here) and they feature a boldly lit red sculpture by Timur Si-Qin, abstract and figurative contemporary paintings by Jonathan Meese and Fredrik Vaerslev, and sculptural works by Justin Beal and Alex Da Corte.

It takes a while to discover a room in which furniture and the essentials of everyday life take centre stage, although a number of remarkable 350-year-old crystal chandeliers are on show in the display spaces. These treasures came with the apartment when the Lundgrens purchased it and, Stefan says, were carefully restored, with new crystal pieces sourced from the factory in the Czech Republic where the chandeliers were originally made.
Although Palma is not on the map of contemporary art right now, the Lundgrens might well soon put it there. They originally hail from Sweden and enjoy living in Mallorca for the obvious reason that it’s a very safe and enjoyable place in which to live as a family – ‘the Spanish are the best at living a good life’ says Stefan – and they are about to open a third gallery space in the city.

Stefan Lundgren Gallery currently represents 17 artists from across the globe, including US artists Ry Rocklen, Luis Gispert, Jacolby Satterwhite, Matthew Brandt, Justin Lieberman, Roman Liska, Carter Mull, Gerald Davis, Kate Steciw, Devin Kenny, Christopher Richmond, Andrew Sutherland and Nathlie Provosty, South African artist Cameron Platter, and Rannva Kunoy, who was born in the Faroe Islands and currently lives and works in London, as does the youngest artist in their roster, Amba Sayal-Bennett (who was born in 1991). ‘We want to create a playground for the artists who are doing the most interesting work – and asking the tricky questions – right now,’ says Stefan.
It’s obvious that ‘work is life’, as Stefan puts it, for this dynamic couple, who both started out as artists themselves. ‘It’s just that our hobby [of being collectors] has taken over,’ he says. And although their priority at home is ‘to live with artworks that speak to you every day’, the Lundgrens’ space also features all the necessary home comforts. Their vintage dining table, surrounded by upholstered chairs that are perfectly suited to long hours spent discussing the state of contemporary art after dinner, are an obvious example. (Of course, the dining room is also filled with art: at the time of our shoot, a large painting by Chinese emerging artist Zhao Zhao was hung on the wall. The room also features a unique wallpaper by Jacolby Satterwhite and a monitor showing his video work, ‘Reifying Desire 6’, which last year was included in 2014 Whitney Biennial in New York.)

The fact that the dining room – as do many of the other spaces – opens out onto a long open terrace adds to the home’s atmosphere of casual luxury, which is augmented by the airy study-cum-kitchen in which work of both professional and domestic varieties can be done. The kitchen in turn opens onto a library with packed shelves of art and other books, and is itself very much in tune with the current trend for low-key, almost ‘deconstructed’ kitchens, featuring pared-back counters and simple storage solutions.
The cosy living room is perhaps the most conventionally domestic space in the entire apartment. In it, a tactile rug softens the terracotta floors and sheepskin throws adorn wide couches, the ceiling is delicately painted with old-school botanical motifs and there is a vase of orchids on a coffee table. But of course there is room for art here too: a graphic photo triptych by Sara VanDerBeek, a huge C-print by Jacolby Satterwhite, a black painting by Steve Canaday, three small drawings by Amba Sayal-Bennett and a bold purple sculpture by Patrick Hill.
For Stefan and Parnilla, the place where they live must prioritise the display of artworks above all else. ‘Our previous home in Sweden was much larger than this and custom-built to display art,’ says Stefan. ‘There was no picture window, for example, as we wanted that wall space for art.’ And he says – sounding slightly exasperated – that when he looks at many homes in magazines, a frequent thought is, ‘Why did someone place that ugly vase in front of that beautiful piece of art?’

It’s no surprise that the Lundgrens’ art-buying clients love to visit this apartment and view the artworks here. ‘They like it because it’s more shabby than chic,’ Stefan says, although he’s being a little modest, as this home combines all that’s needed for a comfortable everyday life with a unique and welcoming atmosphere. He describes the gallery’s clients as ‘very clear about what they want’ adding that ‘they certainly don’t care about what other people think of their homes or aesthetic choices’.
That’s the same kind of confidence that the Lundgrens demonstrate so clearly in their apartment. ‘People come for the quality,’ says Stefan. ‘We are not the biggest gallery – and we worked from scratch to build up this business. Collectors like to buy from us because we are also collectors.’