Max Walter Svanberg : En semiotisk studie av några av hans verk

Sammanfattning: This essay aims to examine the contents of the picture and the connection between viewer and picture in some of the works of Swedish artist Max Walter Svanberg. The methods applied are the semiotic methods of Charles Sanders Pierce and Roland Barthes to analyse the pictures both in themselves, but also in the context of the written material the artist has left behind about his art. Emerging from these writings is that the overall goal of the artist was to awaken the imagination of the viewer. The results show that Svanbergs’ art distances itself from the Icon and approaches a state as Index of the world. The artist shies away from giving one meaning to any part of his art, and always forces the viewer to interpret. The imagination is sprung by the process of interpretation and association.