Dala Horses

Dala Horses

This article relates to Remarkably Bright Creatures

In Shelby Van Pelt's novel Remarkably Bright Creatures, Tova Sullivan treasures her collection of Dala horses brought to the United States from Sweden decades ago by her mother.

A Dala horse, also known as a Dalecarlian horse (or "Dalahäst" in Swedish), is a type of hand-carved, painted statuette in Swedish culture. According to Chintana Odell, an owner of Stockholm's Wooden Horse Museum, "It has such a strong identity and connection with Sweden that a Swede would feel at home anywhere in the world once she or he sees a Dala horse. It is almost sacred."

Imagery of horses has a long history in the country, where the animals have been associated with strength and respected for their usefulness to humans. The carved figurines that became known as Dala horses emerged around the early 1800s in Dalarna, a province in central Sweden about 170 miles northwest of Stockholm, possibly originating in the village of Bergkarlås and followed by the nearby towns of Risa, Vattnäs, Nusnäs and others. These areas were known for their furniture and clock-making craftsmanship, and the first Dala horses may have been made as toys for children from scraps of wood left over after the construction of these other items.

The horses, typically carved from pine, were at first often unpainted but evolved to a monochrome colored design that made use of pigments from local copper mines, with a bright orange-red becoming the most common color. Later, an ornate painting style known as "kurbits," popular for decorating furniture, was applied to the horses as well. Many early Dala horses weren't signed but only made identifiable by certain coded markings; however, their specific origins may still be traced by an artist's unique style. Different regions also produced different types of horses; for example, Nusnäs horses were stocky, resembling work horses, while those made in the town of Rättvik were more slender and upright. The Dala horses came to be a significant source of income for the region. They were sold in markets as gifts. In some cases, whole families crafted Dala horses, with children carving in the evenings after school.

The 1939 World Exhibition in New York brought the Dala horse international fame. A giant version was erected outside the Swedish pavilion and stoked public interest. One Swedish producer who met the resulting demand for Dala horses was carver Grannas Anders Olsson. He had started a craft workshop in 1922, and his Nusnäs studio produced 20,000 horses the year after the exhibition. This business is still in operation and run by the Olsson family, producing about 100,000 figurines annually.

Today Dala horses can be found throughout Sweden, and in areas of the United States as well. Lindsborg, Kansas, a city of 3,200 residents, was founded in 1868 by Swedish immigrants. The city has incorporated the Dala horse into its seal, and residents' houses sport Dala horse-shaped address plaques on their doors.

Watch modern Dala horses being manufactured in the video below.

Dala horses of different sizes, via Wikimedia Commons

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This "beyond the book article" relates to Remarkably Bright Creatures. It originally ran in December 2022 and has been updated for the March 2025 paperback edition. Go to magazine.