How Berntson Bhattacharjee Grew from Nomadic Roots into a Permanent London Home

Lovisa Berntson Vit and India Bhattacharjee were orbiting the same social circles for years until their paths aligned in 2019, when Vit was studying for her MFA at Sotheby’s and Bhattacharjee was working at a private members club The Cultivist. The duo quickly became inseparable as each other’s art world confidants, and, in 2020, the two London-based Swedish gallerists seized an opportunity to stage an exhibition in Skänor, a beachside town on Sweden’s southern tip. They packed their car with work from 11 artists and set off, turning what started as an experimental idea into the beginning of a life-changing project.

Four years later, Berntson Bhattacharjee is celebrating its first anniversary at its 2,200-square-foot permanent location on Berners Street in London’s bustling Fitzrovia neighborhood. Evolving from its nomadic beginnings, the gallery has quickly become an exciting player in London’s vibrant gallery scene, known for its program of young, buzzy artists.

Coinciding with this milestone, Berntson Bhattacharjee is presenting “Modus Operandi,” a solo exhibition by Yulia Iosilzon—the artist with whom Vit and Bhattacharjee hosted the gallery’s inaugural solo show in Stockholm back in 2021.

“For every show that we do, every project that we do with an artist, we want it to be important for them in their development and practice and not just something for the sake of it,” Bhattacharjee said. “We want everything to feel like a milestone for them.”

Iosilzon’s current exhibition highlights why Berntson Bhattacharjee chose to establish its permanent space in such a large venue. The gallery, repurposed from an old garage, offers an expansive canvas that complements the pair’s vision of transformative art installations. The space has been transformed to evoke the feel of a theater, with fabric drapes creating a curtain-like effect around the walls. The cornerstone piece, Shifting Through, Towards the Light, a three-square-meter mosaic made from small ceramic pieces, can be found at the end of the gallery.

This choice of space also derives from Vit and Bhattacharjee’s early days as a nomadic project, where risk-taking was an integral foundation. By staging their first show, “Staying Sane,” in Stockholm in the wake of the 2020 pandemic, the gallerists took a leap of faith. The show featured works from artists including Mary Stephenson and Katy Stubbs and immediately proved successful—for the gallerists and the artists alike. The show also exemplified Vit and Bhattacharjee’s ability to present emerging artists to audiences that are both receptive and enthusiastic, a curatorial throughline that runs from the inception of the nomadic project until today.

“We realized how much impact something so small actually could have,” said Vit of the Stockholm show. The success—and enthusiasm—sparked by their first exhibition led to a series of shows over three years, hosted in venues such as the 19th-century Pump House in London’s Battersea Park and various locations across Stockholm, Skänor, and Falsterbo in Sweden. Each of these moments spurred the pair toward establishing their permanent location.

Last April, Vit and Bhattacharjee celebrated the official opening of the brick-and-mortar Berntson Bhattacharjee with a solo exhibition featuring new works by Gen Z artist Georg Wilson in London, marking another significant milestone for both the artists and the gallery itself. The gallerists first worked with Wilson, whose work is defined by her mystical, folkloric approach to her figures and lush landscapes, years ago during a London nomadic group exhibition, “The Red Room.” With the permanent space, the gallerists are doubling down on their dedication to their artists’ careers—both in London and internationally.

“It’s hard to grow doing the pop-up model,” said Bhattacharjee. “In order to apply to art fairs, you often need a permanent space and just a base where people can come and see you, and you can build those relationships properly. We’re signaling that we’re here to stay, and we’re not just going to pop up and then leave and disappear. We really have a very long-term vision for our gallery.”

The choice of Fitzrovia resonated with the gallery’s ethos of situating art near its audiences. As a nomadic project, the gallerists learned how to select hotspots where their artists would find visibility, and Fitzrovia’s vibrant scene felt like a natural fit.

“All of our previous pop-ups had been in quite central or conveniently located areas, such as Earl’s Court, where a lot of our collectors are based, South Kensington at Cromwell Place, Battersea Park, and very central places in Stockholm, so it made sense for us to keep that same—to keep it central,” Bhattacharjee said.