Strindberg represented the 19th-century ideal of the artist as a free personality, unrestrained by convention and middle-class values. He was arguably the most influential of all Scandinavian authors (along with Henrik Ibsen and Hans Christian Andersen) and is known as one of the developers of modern theatre for his works based on Naturalism and Expressionism. His acute psychological analysis and his dramatization of naked emotion within a naturalistic domestic setting make him one of the great innovators. He influenced later playwrights such as Eugene O'Neill (Ah, Wilderness!), Eugéne Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, John Osborne and Tennessee Williams.

He wrote more than 50 plays as well as novels, short stories and studies of Swedish history. He was also a painter, photographer and alchemist. His stormy expressionist seascapes show the influences of both Edward Munch and Paul Gaugin - with whom he was friends - and J.M.W. Turner. His personal life was fairly disastrous - married three times and he had children with all three wives - and his relationships with women and the battle of the sexes became one of his favourite themes. There are two distinct periods in his literary career with the production of the novel Inferno, following several psychotic episodes, as a central turning point.

His earlier "Greater Naturalism" period was concerned with describing the mental hostility between men and women but in an impartial objective way. He cited a desire to make literature somewhat of a science. He was upset by the outcry his works produced and the severe criticisms he received. Like many other Scandinavians of the period he travelled abroad to escape the backlash and to explore other movements. This ended his association with Naturalism and he began to produce works informed more by Expressionism and Symbolism.

It is in this period at the turn of the century that Easter (PÅSK) was produced. The drama takes place over three days of the Easter week and shows Elis Heyst trying to hold the family together while one of the family's major creditors moves in across the street. Elis' father is in prison, his younger sister (Eleonora) has been institutionalized and one of his students is overtaking him professionally. The family are doing their best to get on with life when Eleonora, the most expressionist of all the characters, arrives unexpectedly. She is odd to say the least and her character is the spark that keeps the bleakness at bay. She gives hope and the possibility of transformation to the play's world. She is otherworldly and enigmatic - her childish stories are interspersed with insightful wisdom.

The chief creditor, Lindkvist, appears menacing - and physically intimidating. But he has a fairytale quality too. He embodies retributive justice but this also includes the potential for mercy. Strindberg experienced a time of inner turmoil known as the "Inferno Period", which culminated in the production of a book written in French, Inferno. He also exchanged a few cryptic letters with Nietzsche. This subsequent period when he ended his association with Naturalism and moved towards Symbolism added to the general consideration of Strindberg being one of the pioneers of the Modern European stage and Expressionism. The Dance of Death (Dödsdansen), A Dream Play (Ett drömspel) and The Ghost Sonata (Spöksonaten) are well-known plays from this period.

Painting and photography offered other areas for his belief that chance plays a crucial part in the creative process. Strindberg's paintings were unique for their time, and went beyond those of his contemporaries for their radical lack of adherence to visual reality. Towards the end of his life he began to write religious works inspired by the Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. He died at the age of 63 probably from stomach cancer.