Hugo Gerhard Simberg (24 June 1873 – 12 July 1917) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

symbolist painter and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

Life and career

Photograph of Hugo Simberg working on the Tampere Cathedral frescoes

Simberg was born on 24 June 1873, at

Hamina Hamina (; sv, Fredrikshamn, , Sweden ) is a List of cities in Finland, town and a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located approximately east of the country's capital Helsinki, in the Kymenlaakso Regions of Finland, reg ...

(in the original Swedish: ''Fredrikshamn''), Finland, the son of Colonel Nicolai Simberg and Ebba Matilda Simberg (née Widenius). In 1891, at the age of 18, he enrolled at the Drawing School of the Viipuri Friends of Art, and he also studied at the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Society from 1893 to 1895. Then, in 1895, he decided to become the private pupil of

Akseli Gallen-Kallela Akseli Gallen-Kallela (26 April 1865 – 7 March 1931) was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic. His work is considered a very important aspect of the Finnish national ident ...

at his wilderness studio Kalela in

Ruovesi Ruovesi is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Juupajoki, Mänttä-Vil ...

. He studied under Gallen-Kallela for three periods between 1895 and 1897. In 1896, Simberg went to London, and in 1897 to Paris and Italy. During these years he exhibited several works at the Finnish Artists' autumn exhibitions, including ''Autumn, Frost'', ''The Devil Playing'' and ''Aunt Alexandra'' (1898), which were well received. Critical success led to his being made a member of the Finnish Art Association and to his being appointed to teach at the Drawing School of the Viipuri Friends of Art. In 1904, he was commissioned to decorate the interior of St John's church in Tampere (now

Tampere Cathedral Tampere Cathedral ( fi, Tampereen tuomiokirkko, sv, Tammerfors domkyrka; originally known as St. John's Church) is a Lutheran church in Tampere, Finland, and the seat of the Diocese of Tampere. The building was designed in the National Romantic s ...

), a project which he carried out with

Magnus Enckell Knut Magnus Enckell (9 November 1870 in Hamina – 27 November 1925 in Stockholm) was a Finnish symbolist painter. At first he painted with a subdued palette, but from 1902 onwards used increasingly bright colors. He was a leading member of the ...

between 1904 and 1906. At the turn of the year 1907-08 he made a short visit to the United States. He also designed the

UPM-Kymmene UPM-Kymmene Oyj is a Finnish forest industry company. UPM-Kymmene was formed by the merger of Kymmene Corporation with Repola Oy and its subsidiary United Paper Mills Ltd in 1996. UPM consists of six business areas: UPM Fibres, UPM Energy, UPM ...

logo, the Griffon (1899). From around 1907 to 1913, he taught at the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Association at

Ateneum Ateneum is an art museum in Helsinki, Finland and one of the three museums forming the Finnish National Gallery. It is located in the centre of Helsinki on the south side of Rautatientori square close to Helsinki Central railway station. It has t ...

. In 1910, he married Anni Bremer. They had two children, Tom and Uhra-Beata, the latter of whom became a rya artist. He died in

Ähtäri Ähtäri ( sv, Etseri) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Ähtäri is located southeast of ...

on 12 July 1917. His biographer, Helena Ruuska, suspects that he battled an unknown disease, possibly

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

, for a long time.

Style

Simberg's paintings emphasize mainly macabre and supernatural topics. Simberg's most famous painting is ''

The Wounded Angel ''The Wounded Angel'' ( fi, Haavoittunut enkeli; sv, Sårad ängel; 1903) is a painting by Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg. It is one of the most recognizable of Simberg's works, and was voted Finland's "national painting" in a vote held ...

''. Its titular character appears in the shape of a winged angel with a bandaged head, borne on a stretcher by two somberly dressed boys, one of whom looks toward the viewer with a serious expression. The painting is the best known of the artist's works and is especially famous in Finland. The Finnish

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

band

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

released in 2007 a music video influenced by this painting, "

Amaranth ''Amaranthus'' is a cosmopolitan genus of annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some amaranth species are cultivated as leaf vegetables, pseudocereals, and ornamental plants. Catkin-like cymes of densely pack ...

". Another famous painting is ''

The Garden of Death ''The Garden of Death'' ( fi, Kuoleman puutarha; 1896) is a painting by Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg. Like many of Simberg's paintings, it depicts a gloomy, otherworldly scene. The central figures are reminiscent of the classic black-cl ...

'', which, like many of Simberg's paintings, depicts a gloomy, otherworldly scene. The central figures are reminiscent of the classic black-clad Grim Reaper, but paradoxically are tending to gardens, traditionally symbols of birth or renewal.

Gallery

Notes

References

External links

Finnish National Gallery Collection of Simberg's works
also o
Flickr
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simberg, Hugo 1873 births 1917 deaths People from Hamina People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Swedish-speaking Finns Symbolist painters 20th-century Finnish painters Finnish male painters 20th-century Finnish male artists