Karoline Bjørnson (née Reimers, 1 December 1835 – 27 June 1934) was a Norwegian actress. She is best known as the wife and supporter of poet, playwright, popular speaker and

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

Biography

Karoline Johanne Elisabeth Reimers was born at Etne in

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

and grew up in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, Norway. She was the daughter of Rasmus Helt Reimers (1801–1884) and Marie Jahn (1806–1841). The Reimers and Jahn families had originally immigrated from Germany. She became a student at the Kristiania norske Theater from 1854. In 1858 she was given a role in a play at Det Norske Theater in Bergen, and then joined the theater on a tour to

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. She was married to Bjørnstären Bjørnson from 1858 and to his death in 1910. She was the model for several of Bjørnson's literary women figures, and helping out with articles and other literary works. The figures "Klara Sang" and "Tora Parsberg" are modelled after her. Several of Bjørnson's poems are dedicated to his wife Karoline. She was the mother of six children, five of whom lived to adulthood: *

Bjørn Bjørnson Bjørn Bjørnson (15 November 1859 – 14 May 1942) was a Norwegian stage actor and theatre director. Biography He was born in Christiania, the son of author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1 ...

(1859–1942) * Einar Bjørnson (1864–1942) *

Erling Bjørnson Erling Bjørnson (19 April 1868 – 7 December 1959) was a Norwegian farmer and politician for the Agrarian Party and later Nasjonal Samling. He was born in Copenhagen, the son of Karoline and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. He was elected to the Parl ...

(1868–1959) *

Bergliot Ibsen Bergliot Ibsen (née Bjørnson; 10 June 1869 – 2 February 1953) was a Norwegian mezzo-soprano singer. Biography She was born Bergliot Bjørnson in Christiania (now Oslo, Norway) as the daughter of writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laur ...

(1869–1953) * Dagny Bjørnson (1871–1872) * Dagny Bjørnson (1876–1974) She died at

Aulestad Aulestad is a farm and writer's house museum in Follebu in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located along County Road Fv255 (''Bjørnsonvegen'') between Vinstra and Hovemoen. The farm is best known as the former residence of Karoline Bjørnson, ...

the family estate in

Follebu Follebu is a village in Gausdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located along the river Gausa, about to the southeast of the village of Segalstad bru. The town of Lillehammer lies about to the southeast of Follebu. ...

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The ...

at 98 years old. The painting of Bjørnstjerne and Karoline Bjørnson by Eyolf Soot (1859–1928) from 1897 is located in the

National Gallery of Norway The National Gallery () is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. History It was established in 1842 following a parliamentary decision from 1836. Originally lo ...

. She was portrayed by

Bernhard Folkestad Bernhard Folkestad (13 June 1879 – 9 March 1933) was a Norwegian naturalist painter and essayist. Biography Bernhard Dorotheus Folkestad was born in London, where his father assisted at the Norwegian Seamen's Mission in England. In 1882 ...

(1879–1933) in 1912, and by Olaf Gulbransson (1873–1958) in 1923. She was the subject of a biography by author

Øyvind Anker Øyvind Anker (13 July 1904 – 30 December 1989) was a Norwegian librarian. Personal life He was born in Frankfurt am Main as a son of engineer Nils Botvid Anker (1878–1943) and artist and pianist Gudrun Nilssen (1875–1958). He grew up in ...

(1904–1989) in his book ''Boken om Karoline'' (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1982).

References

External links

Aulestad website
1835 births 1934 deaths Actresses from Bergen Norwegian stage actresses 19th-century Norwegian actresses Norwegian people of German descent {{Norway-actor-stub