Hugo Simberg

Hugo Gerhard Simberg (24 June 1873 – 12 July 1917) was a Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist.

Life and career

Simberg was born on 24 June 1873, at Hamina , Finland, the son of Colonel Nicolai Simberg and Ebba Matilda Simberg (née Widenius). Simberg learned to read thanks to his aunt Alexandra, who ran a private school in the family home. His aunt was an amateur painter and likely influenced Simberg's decision to become a painter.

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. His teachers there were, among others, Helene Schjerfbeck and Elin Danielson-Gambogi. Then, in 1895, after his aunt had sent him a newspaper clipping about symbolism with the hope that it would help him find the courage to embark on a new path, he decided to become the private pupil of Akseli Gallen-Kallela at his wilderness studio Kalela in Ruovesi. He studied under Gallen-Kallela for three periods between 1895 and 1897.

He died in Ähtäri on 12 July 1917. His biographer, Helena Ruuska, suspects that he battled an unknown disease, possibly syphilis, for a long time.

Style

Simberg's paintings emphasize mainly macabre and supernatural topics. In the autumn of 1902, Silmberg fell ill with meningitis and was forced to stay in bed for much of the winter. After recovering, he painted his most famous painting: The Wounded Angel.

Another famous painting is The Garden of Death, 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