"There is an un-Swedish fire and swiftness to Grünewald; he is a man of many ideas, rather than a single one, made spokesman and warrior; a practical mind and a volatile temperament. His exotic being and appearance, his boyishness, and, most of all, his passion and drive,

of the kind so typical of Stockholm, made him a target for the wider public’s deep-rooted reluctance towards the typical artist. Early on, he became the brazen, new-fangled incarnation of modern art – much to the chagrin of his companions, who did not wish to admit that his artistic importance justified this central position; they forget that whilst he received the most fame, he was also dealt the most scorn."

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     Swedish Art Critic August Brunius from 1922 article about the exhibition at Hallin’s Art Gallery in Stockholm.

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     Isaac Grünewald was a visual artist and ceramicist born 1889 in Stockholm. He was born to poor Jewish parents and demonstrated a talent as a gifted painter when still only a child. "Even in his early youth, Grünewald found strength in his racial awareness, both morally and artistically. And the image of his art and personality are, in their entirety, a glowing example of how richly the Semitic psyche can develop within a Swedish environment," declared Art Historian Sixten Strömbom in his biography of Grünewald titled Bonniers Konstböcker.

     The artist studied at the Swedish Artists' Association's school 1905−1908 under Karl Nordström, and in Paris at Académie Matisse. In 1909 he gained recognition in his homeland when he exhibited his work with a group of Scandinavian artists known as "The Young Ones" (De Unga). He met his future wife Sigrid Hjertén in 1909 and encouraged her to study painting with him in Paris. In 1911 the artists were married and from 1912 on Grünewald and Hjertén regularly exhibited together at home and abroad. Art historians nowadays often cite them as being responsible for introducing modernism to Sweden.
    In 1913 he worked with Leander Engström in Gränna. In 1917 he painted portraits of Prince Eugene, Queen Ingrid, Theodor Svedberg, Naima Wifstrand, and several self-portraits. In 1920 he moved to Fontenay-aux-Roses outside Paris. In the 1920s, Grünewald began reaping major commercial successes. He created stage designs for the Royal Swedish Opera and other theaters. In 1925-26, he decorated the walls and ceiling in the minor hall (since renamed Grünewald Hall) at the Stockholm Concert Hall, site of the Nobel Prize ceremony, and in 1928 the walls of the Matchstick Palace. He then settled in Montparnasse in the same house where Gösta Adrian-Nilsson and Fernand Léger lived. It became his permanent home until 1931. The following year his work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

     He painted landscapes with Stockholm motifs, coastal pictures with bathing cabins from Gilleleje, then preferably in tempera, and still-lifes with flowers and fruits. He created decorative work in the Concert Hall in the Match Palace in Stockholm, and finally imaginative theater decorations for Oberon, Kleopatra, Sakuntala, including costumes.
    He was awarded a professorship at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm in 1932, a post he held for more than ten years. Later he ran his own private art school in Stockholm. In 1945 he was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal.

     The artist's wife Sigrid Hjertén suffered from lifelong mental health problems that resulted in her being hospitalized for extended periods in the 1930s. They divorced in 1937 and he married Märta Grundell. In 1946 he and his second wife were killed tragically in an airplane crash.

     To describe the personality of the artist, the Historian Tage Nilsson in Forums små konstböcker (1949) refers to, “his vitality, eloquence and powerful reply made him extraordinarily well-suited for making his case for his own art and for expressionism. […] Isaac’s polemic talent, in combination with his magnificent temperament, of course served to win him both friends and enemies”.
     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

• The National Museum in Stockholm

• The Modern Museum in Stockholm

• National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo

• Finnish National Gallery

• Malmö Art Museum

• Gothenburg Art Museum

• Centre Pompidou

• Norrköping Art Museum

• Prince Eugen Waldemarsudde

• Swedish Museum of Performing Arts

• Skissernas Museum in Lund

• Borås Art Museum

• Skissernas Museum in Lund

• The Petit Salon at Villa Åkerlund (the U.S. Ambassador Residence in Stockholm) mural