Speedway – Thorsten Pedersén (Mid-20th Century)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: Mid-20th Century
Dimensions: [Insert dimensions once available]
Provenance: Acquired from a German auction
Restoration: Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration
Framing: [Insert framer and date once complete]
Status: For sale
Racing Against the Canvas
Thorsten Pedersén’s Speedway captures the rush of motorcycle racing through bold brushwork and rhythmic composition. Riders lean into tight turns as color and form blur into motion. Every mark on the canvas conveys speed, intensity, and physical strain. Created in postwar Europe, this painting reflects the energy and optimism of a machine-driven modern age.
Pedersén, though lesser-known, worked within the language of Scandinavian and continental modernism. His lines suggest not just a race, but a visual rhythm—where the machines and men dissolve into a single, forward-charging force.
Motion in Paint
Unlike many sport-themed works of the period that lean toward realism, Speedway prioritizes sensation over detail. The riders, depicted in flux, seem to vibrate on the surface. Their bikes curve along dynamic diagonals, propelling the eye from one side of the canvas to the other.
The work emerged from a German auction and remains a rare artifact of European midcentury modernism centered on sport. It also forms part of our broader Modern European Collection, which explores motion, industry, and postwar optimism.