Lena Cronqvist was born in Karlstad, in Sweden, in 1938. From 1959 to 1964, she attended the Royal University Collage of Fine Arts in Stockholm. From 1958 to 1959, she studied at the National College of Arts, Crafts and Design of Stockholm. She currently lives and works in Sweden where she is also a member of the Royal Academy of Art.

Ever since her debut in 1965, Lena Cronqvist has held a unique position in Swedish art, thanks to her exceedingly rich oeuvre. Cronqvist is a manic thematicist, in the best possible sense, who has devoted more than 40 years of painting, sculpting, drawing, textile and print making to relentless explorations of a number of well-defined motifs and themes.

A central aspect for Cronqvist has always been issues of life and death. Cronqvist has painted, drawn and sculpted her way through the hardships and joys of life, transforming in her works the most private sphere into an engaging common field. Cronqvist has always demonstrated courage – the courage to be personal, the courage to take space, the courage not to swerve from humour or the disagreeable.