In accordance with the wishes of the late Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, his house has been auctioned off to the highest bidder.

The building has been purchased by the Norwegian Gude Gudeson, who plans to turn it into a meeting place for artists together with Bergman’s daughter Linn Ullmann.

The daily Svenska Dagbladet writes that the move is true to the spirit of Bergman, who steered well clear of the state’s influence:

“When the house was still up for sale … many people said indignantly that the state must step in. Otherwise, they argued, Bergman’s artistic legacy would be misappropriated. The debate was a reminder of how deeply lodged in our heads the idea is that an all-embracing state is a necessary condition for culture. But Bergman himself was an example of the contrary. His films were produced largely without the influence of film policy. On the contrary, he considered himself to have been driven into exile by the country’s overzealous tax collectors. That Bergman’s house on [the Baltic island] Fårö has now been turned into a private cultural institute seems like the logical consequence of a career that was successful more in spite of than with the aid of the state.”