Nils Blommér, born Nils Johan Olsson (12 June 1816 – 1 February 1853) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

painter. His middle name is sometimes given as Jakob.

Biography

He was born to the schoolteacher, Anders Olsson, and his wife, Elsa née Jakobsdotter, in Blommeröd, a village in the

Diocese of Lund The Diocese of Lund ( sv, Lunds stift) is a diocese within the Church of Sweden which corresponds to the provinces of Blekinge and Skåne. There are 217 parishes within the diocese, the most significant number in any of the dioceses of the Chur ...

. He started his career as an apprentice to in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

then, in 1839, enrolled at the

Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts ( sv, Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, architec ...

. In 1847, he received a generous scholarship that enabled him to go to Paris, where he studied with

Léon Cogniet Léon Cogniet (29 August 1794 – 20 November 1880) was a French history and portrait painter. He is probably best remembered as a teacher, with more than one hundred notable students. Biography He was born in Paris. His father was a painter ...

. It was there he adopted the name "Blommér", after his birthplace. Later, he came under the influence of the Neo-Romantics, such as

Erik Gustaf Geijer Erik Gustaf Geijer (12 January 1783 – 23 April 1847) was a Swedish writer, historian, poet, romantic critic of political economy, philosopher, and composer. His writings served to promote Swedish National Romanticism. He was an influential a ...

Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom (19 January 1790 in Åsbo, Östergötland – 21 July 1855) was a Swedish romantic poet, and a member of the Swedish Academy. Life He was son of a country parson, was born in the province of Ostergotland on 19 Janua ...

and

Erik Johan Stagnelius Erik Johan Stagnelius (14 October 17933 April 1823) was a Swedish Romantic poet, playwright and romantic critic of political economy.https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1086360/FULLTEXT01.pdf 1810 to 1840 was a time of blossoming in ...

. He also drew inspiration from Swedish folk songs and the folklore motifs of the Austrian painter,

Moritz von Schwind image:Moritz von Schwind 2.jpg, 200px, Moritz von Schwind, c. 1860. Moritz von Schwind (21 January 1804 – 8 February 1871) was an Austrian painter, born in Vienna. Schwind's genius was lyrical—he drew inspiration from chivalry, folklore, and th ...

. He firmly believed that nature had an inherent soul; symbolized by folk characters. Around 1850, he moved to Italy where, in November 1852, he married , also a painter. A few weeks later, he caught

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

and died in Rome, from related complications, early the following year. Blommér's best known works are based on

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

and folklore. They include ''Älfdrömmen'', ''Sommarnattsdrömmen'', ''Näcken och Ägirs döttrar'', ''Brage och Iduna'', ''Freja'', ''Loke och Sigyn'' and ''Älfvor''. They may be seen at the

Göteborgs konstmuseum Gothenburg Museum of Art ( sv, Göteborgs konstmuseum) is located at Götaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden. It claims to be the third largest art museum in Sweden by size of its collection. Collections The museum holds the world's finest collect ...

Livrustkammaren The Royal Armoury ( sv, Livrustkammaren) is a museum in the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. It contains many artifacts of Swedish military history and Swedish royalty. It is the oldest museum in Sweden, established in 1628 by King Gustavus Ad ...

and the

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...

Gallery

Image:Freya and Heimdall by Blommer.jpg, ''Heimdal öfverlemnar till Freja smycket Bryfing'' (

Heimdallr In Norse mythology, Heimdall (from Old Norse Heimdallr) is a god who keeps watch for invaders and the onset of Ragnarök from his dwelling Himinbjörg, where the burning rainbow bridge Bifröst meets the sky. He is attested as possessing forekno ...

returns the necklace Bryfing to

Freyja In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...

), 1845 Image:Idunn and Bragi by Blommer.jpg, ''Brage och Iduna'', (

Bragi Bragi (; Old Norse: ) is the skaldic god of poetry in Norse mythology. Etymology The theonym Bragi probably stems from the masculine noun ''bragr'', which can be translated in Old Norse as 'poetry' (cf. Icelandic ''bragur'' 'poem, melody, wis ...

and

Iðunn In Norse mythology, Iðunn is a goddess associated with apples and youth. Iðunn is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri St ...

), 1846 Image:Ängsälvor - Nils Blommér 1850.jpg, ''Ängsälvor'' (meadow

elves An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

), 1850 File:The_Water-Sprite_and_%C3%84gir%27s_Daughters_(Nils_Blomm%C3%A9r)_-_Nationalmuseum_-_18200.tif, ''Näcken och Ägirs döttrar'' (

Necks The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

and Ægir's Daughters), 1850 Image:Freja Seeking her Husband (Nils Blommér) - Nationalmuseum - 18201.tif, ''Freja sökande sin make'' (Freyja Seeking her Husband), 1852

Sources

This article is based on the public domain ''Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon''
* Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, ''Historie-målaren Nils Johan Olsson Blommér'', 1854 * Annika Nordin, "På spaning efter Näcken eller en spelmans jordefärd", In: ''Paletten'', Vol.4, 1990 pp. 15–19 * Patrik Reuterswärd, "Två fullödiga verk av Nils Jakob Blommér: "Ängsälvor" och ett makalöst porträtt", In: ''Konsthistorisk tidskrift'', 1996, Scandinavian University Press * August Sohlman, "N. J. O. Blommér", In: ''Svea folkkalender'', 1854

* Gustave Thomæus, ''Nils Jakob Blommér'', Skånska Central, 1922
WorldCat
1816 births 1853 deaths 19th-century Swedish painters Mythological painters Swedish male painters Deaths from pneumonia in Lazio 19th-century Swedish male artists {{Sweden-painter-stub