Abstract The purpose of this essay is to analyse and interpret artist Hans Hedberg’s monumental, ceramic reliefs in Sweden and France. Hedberg is internationally famous for his ceramic fruits and eggs in different glaces and formats. A mostly unknown side of his artistic production is that he produced about 50 ceramic reliefs during the 1950s and up to the 1970s in public buildings. Hedberg was one of very few foreign artists in France, who, during a long period of time, produced monumental, public reliefs for the French state. The essay analyses the European Postwar Period in France and Hedberg’s reliefs from his early figurative works to his abstract reliefs. It also links Hedberg to Nouveau Réalisme and the Renaissance in Italy.