Ferdinand Finne

Ferdinand Oscar Finne (12 October 1910 – 31 December 1999) was a Norwegian author, painter, graphic artist, theater decorator and costume designer.

Biography He was the son of Esther Lucy Egeberg (1887–1962) and Severin Finne (1883–1953). His father was a lawyer, and his mother was the daughter of Norwegian merchant Ferdinand Julian Egeberg. Finne was the brother of the architect Hans-Gabriel Finne (1916–2012). His parents divorced while he was still a child, and his mother moved with her children to Great Britain.

He was costume designer at Nationaltheatret from 1935 to 1938. At the outbreak of World War II in 1940, Finne was in London where he reported for duty at the Norwegian embassy. Finne started his career as an artist under the direction of the Austrian expressionistic painter Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) in London. He subsequently studied at the National Art Academy in Oslo with Norwegian artists Per Krogh and Jean Heiberg.

He was decorated Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1991. From around 1960 he lived for 25 years on the Spanish island of Ibiza. Ferdinand Finne died at Oslo in 1999. He is represented in the National Gallery of Norway with several art works.

Private life Finne was for a short time in a relationship with the Austrian émigré actor Anton Walbrook, whom he had met in 1938 on a train ride in France. The relationship ended in 1946 after Walbrook began an affair with the Englishman Eugene Edwards.

Selected writings Store motekonger, 1939 Øya og huset, 1956 Den grønne lagune. En pastorale, 1967 Såvidt jeg husker, 1974 En krans av greske øyer, 1977 Veien blir til mens du går, 1985 Så vidt jeg husker – og litt til, 1986 Vandrer mot en annen strand. En reise mellom øyer, en bok om tro og kunst, 1990 Ringer i et hav. En krans av greske øyer, 1991 Sangen om Sørlandet. Historien om en øy og et hus, 1993 Blå elefant – ekko fra India, 1998