Mina Carlson-Bredberg

Wilhelmina Carlson-Bredberg (1857–1943), known as Mina, was a Swedish painter. She is particularly well known for her portraits, and scenes from contemporary life.

Biography Bredberg was born on 2 September 1857 in Stockholm to wealthy parents who participated in Swedish cultural life. Her uncle was the noted newspaper publisher and critic Lars Johan Hierta. As a teenager she took private painting lessons from Kerstin Cardon. She was also taught by Elisabeth Keyser.

At the age of twenty she was obliged by social convention to marry a family friend, Vilhelm Swalin, whom she had been observed kissing. For the seven years of her marriage she relinquished her painting career. She studied at the Academie Julian until 1887, under the tutelage of Jules Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger. She formed a strong friendship with Louise Catherine Breslau.

She returned to Stockholm in 1890 to teach at the art school established by Elisabeth Keyser, but travelled often throughout Europe. In this period she forged strong links with English Arts and Crafts Movement figures such as William Morris.

In 1895 she married architect Georg Carlson, and again her artistic output was hampered by marriage.

Her works are held in the National Museum, the Prins Eugens Waldermarsudde, and the Gothenburg Museum of Art.

Gallery

Portraits of Mina Carlson-Bredberg