In the early 1960's Souza spent some time in Stockholm. Much of the information about this trip is courtesy of his friend at the time, Ragnar Zedell.

Ragnar recalls that Souza had loaded up his car and driven over to the city, initially renting a studio in the Old Town for two weeks. He then hired out a small gallery nearby to exhibit some twenty-five of his paintings. On the second day of opening, however, an influential critic reviewed the show, saying " had not come to some result." Souza, disliking the critic and his opinion, definitely took the show down. The following day Souza approached Ragnar and offered him the collection for half the asking price. As Ragnar remembers, "I paid him 20,000 Kronas, all the money I had, because I liked him."

According to Ragnar, Souza had very few friends in Stockholm, and they would spend a lot of time together eating out or sitting in Ragnar's tiny shop crammed with shipping and maritime objects as well as several recently acquired Souza oils. When clients would come in and ask about the paintings, Ragnar would duly send them down to meet Souza at his studio. If they bought a work, Souza would return to the shop and pay Ragnar a commission.

Ten years after that fateful review of the exhibition, Ragnar met up with the critic and told him about the success Souza had gone on to achieve, including the many acquisitions made by world-renowned museums…." the critic fell of his chair in shock!"

Interview with Ragnar Zedell by Conor Macklin on Wednesday, 25th May 2005