Simon Stålenhag
Narrative art, sci-fi. A world worth to know.
Imagine a quiet Swedish countryside—red wooden houses, misty forests, lakes that reflect the sky like a mirror. Now, drop a rusty robot in the middle. Maybe a giant abandoned mech, towering over a child on a bike. Strange? Definitely. Beautiful? Always. Welcome to the world of Simon Stålenhag.
Stålenhag isn’t just a painter or a writer—he’s a world-builder.
His work blends nostalgic Scandinavian landscapes with mind-bending sci-fi elements: decaying machines, mysterious research facilities, robots that seem out of place and yet feel like they’ve been there forever.
It's like if Spielberg’s E.T. had grown up in Sweden and listened to synth music.
His most well-known books —Tales from the Loop, Things from the Flood, and The Electric State— read like visual diaries from alternate timelines.
They don’t scream “sci-fi” at you. Instead, they whisper, "What if this had actually happened?” His art feels lived-in, not imagined. The people, the settings, the strange tech —they all belong together somehow.
Tales from the Loop and The Electric State were so good, Amazon and Netflix made it into cinematic content.
It’s like watching a dream unfold —slow, emotional, hauntingly beautiful. Just like his art.
Before diving into the world of retro-futuristic art, Simon had a childhood passion for dinosaurs. This fascination led him to collaborate with the Swedish Museum of Natural History, where he illustrated 28 dinosaur paintings for their prehistoric exhibits.
It's a delightful twist that the artist who envisions futuristic robots also brings ancient creatures to life.
What’s so special about Simon is that he doesn’t explain everything.
He leaves space. Space for wonder, curiosity, and sometimes even unease. His worlds feel quiet, but they speak volumes. They’re not loud blockbusters; they’re slow burns you think about days later.
So, if you haven’t explored his work yet, treat yourself. Browse through his website, pick up one of his books, or just fall into a rabbit hole of his art online.
You’ll come out the other side seeing your own world a little differently.
Maybe that old factory outside your city isn’t just an abandoned building.
Maybe it’s hiding something.