18 Facts About Lars Vilks

Lars Endel Roger Vilks was a Swedish visual artist and activist who was known for the controversy surrounding his drawings of Muhammad.

Lars Vilks's second given name Endel was Estonian, given by his father Eino Vilks who was of Estonian and Latvian descent.

Lars Vilks earned his doctoral degree in art history from Lund University in 1987, and worked at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts from 1988 to 1997.

Lars Vilks turned himself in as a piece of art to the spring saloon at Vikingsberg, Helsingborg, and turned his own car into a piece of art at the fall exhibition at Skanes konstforening.

In 1980, Lars Vilks created two sculptures, Nimis and Arx, the former made entirely of drift wood and the latter of concrete and rock, in the Kullaberg nature reserve in Hoganas, Skane.

Lars Vilks characterized his own skill in the actual crafts involved in sculpture as quite limited, although his artistic ideas can be seen as characteristic of his generation of Swedish conceptual artists.

One of the few works of Lars Vilks to be incorporated into a collection is the concrete sculpture Omphalos, measuring 1.6 meters high and weighing one tonne, which is owned by Moderna Museet after it was first bought by fellow artist Ernst Billgren for 10 000 Swedish kronor.

Lars Vilks described himself as an "equal opportunity offender" in his critical depictions of religion.

In 2007, Lars Vilks caused an international controversy when he depicted Muhammad as a roundabout dog in three drawings, designated to be shown at an art exhibition at Tallerud, in July of the same year.

Lars Vilks' eyeglasses were broken but he did not suffer any serious injuries, and was escorted to safety by security, while a few of the protesters were detained by police.

In 2013, the list was expanded to include Stephane "Charb" Charbonnier, who the Lars Vilks committee awarded their freedom prize to in 2014.

When Charb was murdered in a terror attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, along with 11 other people, Al-Qaeda called for more cartoonists to be killed, The French cartoonist Stephane Charbonnier, killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, was on the same hit list and Lars Vilks stepped up his security.

Lars Vilks was then identified by surveillance cameras and killed in gunfire with police the following day.

In March 2015, Lars Vilks received the Sappho Award from the Danish Free Press Society.

Lars Vilks died in a car crash on 3 October 2021, in Markaryd, Sweden.

Lars Vilks had been to Stocksund to have dinner with his friend, journalist Stina Lundberg Dabrowski.

Lars Vilks was on his way home travelling in an unmarked police car with two police officers, at the time their car crashed into a large truck and caught fire.

The memory of Lars Vilks is preserved in a Foundation: Stiftelsen Lars Vilks Minnesfond.