Jennie Petersen is a Stockholm-based artist originally from Karlshamn in Blekinge, Sweden. Working primarily with acrylic on canvas, she paints figurative and naïve portraits of women. Her work is vibrant, emotionally charged, and unapologetically unpolished. In recent years, she has also begun exploring mosaic sculpture, particularly through her ongoing series of "pajama ladies."

Jennie’s artistic journey began as a casual hobby, but it became something far deeper during a period of personal burnout. While on sick leave, she found herself grappling with feelings of worthlessness and turned to feminist literature for solace and understanding. This led to a powerful shift in perspective on the female body—both her own and those of the women around her. Painting became a form of therapy, allowing her to process emotions and reclaim a sense of self-worth through depictions of women’s bodies, free from societal judgment.

The idea for her now-signature “pajama ladies” emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Spending most days at home in striped pajamas—whether dropping off her children or running errands—Jennie embraced a kind of everyday rebellion. Her pajama-clad figures embody that spirit: women who cry, smoke, drink, rage, and exist entirely on their own terms. Imperfect, expressive, and deeply human, they celebrate raw emotion and personal truth.

Jennie’s style is colorful, figurative, and refreshingly unconcerned with academic rules of proportion or perspective. Her lack of formal art training has allowed her to develop an instinctive and intuitive approach to painting. She draws inspiration from 19th-century portraiture, visits to Stockholm’s National Museum, and pioneering female artists such as Helene Schjerfbeck, Sigrid Hjertén, Vanessa Bell, Marie-Louise Ekman, and Marianne Lindberg De Geer.

The aim of her work is personal empowerment: to strengthen her self-image, challenge conventional beauty ideals, and create space for emotional honesty. If her art also resonates with or empowers others, that is a welcomed and meaningful outcome.

Jennie has exhibited her work in solo and group shows at galleries, restaurants, and cultural events including a jazz festival. Her paintings have been featured in publications such as Rum Hemma, Sköna Hem, Elle Decoration, and Retro. Outside the studio, she is a self-proclaimed “social monster,” energized by meeting people and sharing stories. That same energy flows into her art, where she hopes to spark emotion—any emotion—in those who encounter her work.