Johan August Malmström (14 October 1829 – 18 October 1901) was a Swedish painter. As an artist, he was known for his country motifs often featuring children. His most widely recognized work is ''Grindslanten'' (1885) featuring a typical scene from 19th-century Sweden. Influenced by the national romanticism of

Gothicismus Gothicism or Gothism ( ; ) was an ethno-cultural ideology and cultural movement in Sweden, which took honor in being a Swede, for being purportedly related to the Goths. This was a result of a resolute decades long effort from Swedish writers, ...

, he also collected motives from

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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

. He made illustrations for publications of both

Frithiofs saga Frithiof's Saga () is a legendary saga from Iceland which in its present form is from ca. 1300. It is a continuation from ''The Saga of Thorstein Víkingsson'' (''Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar''). It takes place principally in Norway during the ...

(''Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna'') and

The Tales of Ensign Stål ''The Tales of Ensign Stål'' (Swedish language, Swedish original title: , , or year 2007 translation ) is an epic poem written in Swedish by the Finland-Swedish author Johan Ludvig Runeberg, the national poet of Finland. It was published in two ...

(''Fänrik Ståls sägner''). Malmström was professor and later manager at the

Royal Swedish Academy of Arts The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other fine arts, it is one of seve ...

. Malmström also worked as an illustrator for several newspapers and book publishers. Additionally, Malmström designed furniture, worked as a pattern drawer and was a designer for

Gustavsberg porcelain Gustavsberg is a Swedish porcelain company that originated in 1826.Helena Dahlbäck Lutteman. ''Svenskt Porslin 1700-1900'' It broke up in the 1990s and was sold off in pieces, to the dismay of residents of the Gustavsberg area, but artisans con ...

Biography

Childhood and youth

Malmström was born at Nubbekullen in Västra Ny parish within the municipality of

Motala Motala () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with a municipal population of 43,717 inhabitants in 2024. It is the third largest city of Östergötland, following Linköping and N ...

Östergötland County Östergötland County () is a county or '' län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jönköping to the southwest, Örebro to the northwest, and Södermanland to the northeast. It also has a ...

, Sweden. Nubbekullen (''Nubbekullens hembygdsgård'') is today the site of a local museum. His father, Anders Gustaf Malmström, was a carpenter and ornamental sculptor who managed the small farm. August, together with his brother, helped his father with agriculture and woodwork. Among other works they made ornaments for altarpieces and pulpits to churches. Both parents encouraged August in his choice of life. His mother, Brita Stina Håkansdotter, was interested in literature, which evoked his interest in history. He showed early interest in drawing and painting. An injury in his right hand which never cured properly exempted him from hard work and gave him even more time to spend on arts. In his teens he was skilled enough to support his family, he made small paintings and coloured pictures which were given away as presents on birthdays and

name days In Christianity, a name day is a tradition in many countries of Europe and the Americas, as well as Christian communities elsewhere. It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively t ...

. His parents recognized his talent and sold their only ox to finance his studies in Stockholm.

Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm

Malmström came to Stockholm and applied for admission at the

. It was first with the help of the painter Nils Andersson (1817-1865) that he managed to be accepted and thus on 3 November 1849 he was registered at the academy's ground school. Already at the beginning his talent attracted attention and his study period was marked by rewards of all sorts. The academy had painting contests every year with given themes and Malmström was probably the most diligent participant. For the 1855 contest, he was the only student to submit a contribution with ''Konung Gustaf II Adolfs lifsfara i träffningen vid Wittsjö'' ("King Gustaf II Adolf in mortal danger at the battle of Wittsjö") . However, his work was "not in a good condition to be rewarded". A growing problem the academy faced was that more and more students left the academy for studies in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, a trend Malmström followed in 1856. He considered the academy's education as insufficient and at the same time his economic situation became gradually better. Besides scholarships and picture sales, he earned incomes from portrait orders and restoration tasks.

Düsseldorf 1856–1857

Malmström is associated with the

Düsseldorf school of painting Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. There exists no proofs that he took part in any education in the city. He presumably pursued studies on his own. During autumn 1856, he send home his first painting ''King Heimer and Aslög'' from Düsseldorf and during spring 1857 he then send home ''King Aella's messenger before Ragnar Lodbrok's sons''. Both of these works impressed the Swedish Academy. During their exhibition, the painting ''King Heimer and Aslög'' was rewarded with the Royal Medal. This allowed the Academy to give Malmström a travel scholarship, on 2 October. The grant and several painting sales meant that he was financially secure for many years forward.

Paris 1857–1859

In 1857, Malmström traveled together with

Mårten Eskil Winge Mårten Eskil Winge (21 September 1825 – 22 April 1896) was a Swedish artist. He was a professor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. He was associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. His art was influenced by the Norse mythology th ...

(1825–1896) to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Winge was a good friend of Malmström and also had received a travel scholarship. Besides diligent studies at the museums, they were students of

Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (; 21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught many notable contemporary figures of the art world, such as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chava ...

(1815–1879) who had a solid reputation as a skillful teacher who taught a number of Swedish students. In 1856, Couture became an honorable member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. Malmström returned 1858 to Düsseldorf to complete ''Vikingar på stranden'' ("Vikings at shore") together with the Norwegian painter

Hans Fredrik Gude Hans Fredrik Gude (March 13, 1825August 17, 1903) was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters. He has been called a mainstay of Norwegian National Roma ...

(1825–1903) but soon traveled back to

. Regulations for travel scholarships prescribed that a copy of a work by a great master should be made. The choice fell on

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

's painting ''Christ Crowned with Thorns'', this because other works by Titian were already and constantly occupied by others, in some cases for many years.

Italy 1859–1860

According to the instructions for both holders of the travel scholarship, the Academy stated that after a year of residence in Paris they should travel to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. After two years in Paris, Winge and Malmström went to

at the end of 1859. Much to his indignation, Malmström got a rejection to his application to copy Rafael's works at the Vatican. Instead he made copies of Rafael's and Titian's works in

Palazzo Borghese Palazzo Borghese is a palace in Rome, Italy, the main seat of the Borghese family. It was nicknamed ''il Cembalo'' ("the harpsichord") due to its unusual trapezoidal groundplan; its narrowest facade faces the River Tiber. The entrance at the oppos ...

. Malmström returned to Paris in 1860. In the summer of 1863, Malmström left Paris for a new visit to Italy to study.

Return to Sweden

His artistic breakthrough came in January 1864 after his return to Sweden. In 1866, he exhibited five works at the

General Industrial Exposition of Stockholm (1866) The General Industrial Exposition of Stockholm (1866) (Swedish: ''1866 års allmänna industriutställning i Stockholm'') or only the Stockholm Exposition of 1866 (Swedish: ''Stockholmsutställningen 1866'') was an international aviation exhibition ...

(''Stockholmsutställningen 1866''). He was appointed an apprentice (''agré'') at the Royal Swedish Academy of Art in Stockholm. Subsequently, he was appointed professor of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in 1867 where he taught until 1894. He also served as manager there from 1887 to 1893. He died in 1901, and was buried in the cemetery at

Solna Church Solna Church () is a so-called round church in Solna Municipality near Stockholm, Sweden. It is part of Solna Parish in the Diocese of Stockholm. The church is located on the headland between Brunnsviken and Ulvsundasjön, at the southern end of ...

(''Solna kyrkogård'') near Stockholm. He bequeathed some 650 watercolours, drawings and 26 sketchbooks to the

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, , is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum Skansen, the small resident ...

Gallery

Image:Aslaug.JPG, ''Aslaug'' (1850) Image:Kung Heimer och Aslög.jpg, ''Kung Heimer och Aslög'' (1856) File:Konung Ellas sändebud inför Ragnar Ladbroks söner (1857) av August Malmström.jpg, ''King Aella's messenger before Ragnar Lodbrok's sons'' (1857) Image:Orvarodd.jpg, ''Orvar-Odd relates of Hjalmar's death'' (1859) File:August Malmström - Lekande barn i trädgårdsland.jpg, ''Children playing in garden'' (1866) Image:Blenda uppmanar - August Malmström 1860.jpg, ''Blenda'' (1860) File:August Malmström-väva vadmal.JPG, ''Traditional Swedish dance'' (1882) File:August Malmström.Sketch for Älvaleken.jpg, ''Älvaleken'', a study for the ''Dancing Fairies''

References

Other sources

*Björk, Tomas (1997) ''August Malmström - Grindslantens målare och 1800-talets bildvärld'' (Nordiska Museets Förlag) * Facos, Michelle (1998) ''Nationalism and the Nordic Imagination: Swedish Art of the 1890s'' (University of California Press)

External links

Nubbekullens hembygdsgård website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malmstrom, August 1829 births 1901 deaths People from Motala 19th-century Swedish painters Swedish male painters Symbolist painters Swedish furniture designers Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts 19th-century Swedish illustrators 20th-century Swedish illustrators 19th-century Swedish male artists Düsseldorf school of painting Swedish fantasy artists Swedish magazine illustrators