“Jag väntar vid Picasso, kom och möt mig om en stund,” (“I’ll wait by Picasso, come and meet me in a while”) sings Per in the song “Småstad”. “Picasso” is the nickname for a sculpture, “Woman’s head”, by Pablo Picasso, located in a park in the center of Halmstad.

Stig Nordström, an art lover from Halmstad, was the person who first proposed acquiring an artwork from Picasso in the early 1970s. Luckily, he also had contacts to people who knew Picasso. After long hesitation, the town officials decided to finance the project.

Many people were against purchasing the sculpture. It cost 230,000 SEK and people didn’t understand why one should pay so much for a piece of concrete. For the sake of comparison, a brand new Audi 100 at the time cost 21,000 SEK.

“Woman’s head” was unveiled on April 28, 1971. Picasso was not present.

• Hallandsposten’s Swedish article