It is with great sadness that we share the news that Peter Cornell died in Stockholm on 1 March 2025. We want to take this moment to celebrate Peter’s writing and to mourn him with a few words from Joachim Hamou, his friend and agent:
‘On Saturday, 1 March 2025, writer, art critic, and art historian Peter Cornell passed away in Stockholm, Sweden. Cornell was 82 years old and had been battling ill health for some time. Despite this, he remained active and engaged, participating in numerous events, conferences and exhibitions. Not least with the republication of his own book from 1987, The Ways of Paradise, which was translated into English by Saskia Vogel and published with Fitzcarraldo Editions in November 2024, as well as into French, by Jacques Mangold, with After 8 Books. Peter also co-curated the exhibition Swedish Ecstasy at Bozar in Brussels in 2023, in parallel with numerous catalogue texts for both famous and obscure artists.
I discovered Peter Cornell’s work thanks to the original Swedish publication of The Ways of Paradise in 1987. It became the formative book for my understanding of art and esoteric practices. I believe the enduring resonance of Peter Cornell’s work today is no coincidence – just as it was not by chance in the late 1980s.
His books explore the esoteric dimension of contemporary art and modernism. Instead of the objectifying ideals and values that remain prevalent, he brought out the irrational, the sensual and the metaphysical in art.
In his writing, Peter has reflected a lot on what we cannot see and what is deliberately hidden from us. His work is like a secret source that challenges reason and absolutism. Peter Cornell gave us no obvious answers or definite truth, and he probably did so on purpose.
I really hope his work will continue to travel and expand the minds and souls of many more readers.’
We are honoured to have published Peter Cornell and deeply saddened by this loss.
Fitzcarraldo Editions
Image credit: Horisonten (Horizons), Ulla Wiggen. 1969. Acrylic on Masonite, 75 x 52 cm. (Norrköpings Konstmuseum; photograph Per Myrehed; exh. Fridericianum, Kassel).
