Lennart Segerstråle

Lennart Rafael Segerstråle (17 June 1892 – 11 April 1975) was a Finnish painter and graphic artist. He was best known for his murals and frescoes. Alongside his major works, Segerstråle made woodcuts, etchings, drypoint works, and lithographs.

Biography Lennart Rafael Segerstråle was born in Helsinki Rural Municipality, now Vantaa, on the outskirts of Helsinki. He was a Swedish-speaking Finn. He is the second child of Knut Albert Segerstråle, a theologian and teacher at the Borgå High School in Porvoo and Hanna Frosterus-Segerstråle, painter. His younger sister, Solveig von Schoultz (1907–1996) became known as a poet and author of news and children's books.

Lennart Segerstråle first attended the Fine Arts at the University of Helsinki, where he studied under the direction of painter and art professor Eero Järnefelt (1863–1937).

From 1919 he devoted himself exclusively to art, especially painting. He began to make himself known by the quality of his images and animal motifs. In the 1920s and 1930s he became the most famous animal painter in Finland. Its aim is to represent a harmonious combination of animals, birds and landscapes.

Segerstråle exhibited regularly in Helsinki from 1913 to 1967, as well as abroad. He was a member of the Honorary Committee of the International Cultural Center of Royaumont, in Val-d'Oise, France. He died at Kauniainen in suburban Helsinki, Finland.

Selected works Kristuskyrkan (Christ Church), Helsinki. "Skapelsens lovsång" ("Praise to Creation"), stained glass window on the tower bell, 1928. Reposaari Church, fresco on the arch vault. Art Museum Serlachius Gustaf and Gösta (Manor of Joenniemi), plafond of the library, Mänttä-Vilppula, 1935 Finlandia, frescoes, Bank of Finland, Helsinki. 1943–1944 Rovaniemi Church, "Livets källa" altar mural, 1951 Varkaus Church, Apse fresco, 1952–1953 Uppståndelse (Ascension), Chapel painting, 1954, in Själevad, Sweden Paradisfåglarna (Paradise Birds), painting, 1967, Town Hall Wedding Room, Lund, Sweden Det nya världshjärtat 'The New World Heart', 1973, painting in a Dunchurch school in Warwickshire, UK Taggtråd eller försoning (Reconciliation), painting, 1973 at Westminster Theatre in London, UK