Press & References

On October 17, 2026, Tony Warren gave an artist talk hosted by the Swedish American Museum in Chicago, presenting the story of Tillgivenhet (Devotion), its symbolism, its presentation at the Royal Palace, and an artistic journey with roots in his years of study in Chicago.

In 2012, Nordiska museet acquired the preparatory drawing and original objects associated with Tillgivenhet (Devotion), preserving a documented record of the work’s artistic process in the museum’s collections.

Archival television footage documenting the presentation of Tillgivenhet (Devotion), painted by Tony Warren as a wedding gift from people in Ockelbo, across Sweden and abroad, to Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel at the Royal Palace, Stockholm.

According to Cecilia Hammarlund at Nordiska museet, the museum holds no directly comparable preserved material from the wedding of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. In that context, the surviving documentation surrounding Tillgivenhet and the 2010 royal wedding represents an unusually well-preserved record of a public initiative connected to a Swedish royal occasion.

Professor Jan von Bonsdorff places Nordiska museet’s acquisition of Tony Warren’s preparatory studies and materials within an art-historical tradition that includes Raphael’s cartoons at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

“You can be proud to be included in this tradition, in which the artistic process is celebrated on equal terms with the finished works.”

Four years of formal training in Old Master techniques at the School of Representational Art in Chicago, founded by Bruno Surdo.