Victor Westerholm

Victor Axel Westerholm (4 January 1860 Turku – 19 November 1919 Turku) was a Finnish landscape painter, especially known for founding the Önningeby artists' colony.

Biography Victor Axel Westerholm was born in Turku in 1860. He was the son of Viktor Westerholm, a ship's master, and Maria Westerholm (née Andersson). As a child he spent a lot of time at the island of Nagu in the Finnish Archipelago. From 1869 to 1878 he studied at the Finnish Art Society's Drawing School in Turku, under Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1808–1873) and Thorsten Waenerberg (1846–1917); and as a young man he studied under Eugen Dücker (1841–1916) in Düsseldorf from 1878-1880. Much later he studied under Jules Joseph Lefebvre(1836–1911) at the Académie Julian in Paris from 1888-1890.

Westerholm was an instructor at Turku drawing school in 1887–1898 and 1904–1917. In 1891, he was elected as the curator of the newly formed Art Association in Turku.

Personal life

In 1885, he married Hilma Alander, whom he met at a dancing course in Turku. She was not a painter, but Victor encouraged her to take courses at the Turku Drawing School. They had three daughters and two sons. One daughter, , was born in Ålands.

He was calm and thoughtful personality, but also had a good sense of humour. Together with his wife they were rather hospitable hosts on Önningeby. He preferred freedom to paint, but still accepted students and provided instructions at the colony, keeping silence in case he was unsatisfied with a student's work. Victor Westerholm - Cows in a Birch Forest.png|Cows in a Birch Forest, 1886 Victor Westerholm - Märket lighthouse - 1887.jpg|Märket lighthouse, 1887 Victor Westerholm - Landscape from Åland - A I 608 - Finnish National Gallery.jpg|Landscape from Åland, 1895 Victor Westerholm - Seal Hunting.jpg|Seal Hunting, 1900 VICTOR WESTERHOLM, "EVENING SUN".jpg|Evening Sun, 1901 Victor Westerholm - Kymi River (1902).jpg|Kymi River, 1902 Victor Westerholm - Scene from Hirvensalo.jpg|Scene from Hirvensalo, 1903 Victor Westerholm - Drying Laundry in the Sun.jpg|Drying Laundry in the Sun, 1900s Victor Westerholm - Vallinkoski.jpg|Vallinkoski Rapids, 1917 (fi) Victor Westerholm - Self-Portrait - A II 1365 - Finnish National Gallery.jpg|Self-Portrait, 1919