Hugo Simberg (Hamina, 1873 - Ähtäri, 1917) was a Finnish Symbolist painter and graphic artist. His work, centred on supernatural and macabre subjects, makes him a distinctive figure in Nordic art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
He trained at the Drawing School of the Viipuri Friends of Art from 1891, and at the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Society from 1893 to 1895, where his teachers included Helene Schjerfbeck and Elin Danielson-Gambogi. In 1895 he became the private pupil of Akseli Gallen-Kallela at the secluded Kalela studio in Ruovesi. After visits to London in 1896 and to Paris and Italy in 1897, he showed works such as Autumn, Frost and The Devil Playing at the Finnish artists' autumn exhibitions, which were well received. In 1904 he was commissioned, together with Magnus Enckell, to decorate the interior of St John's church in Tampere, now Tampere Cathedral. The project, completed in 1906, caused controversy over the serpent and the nakedness of the garland-bearing boys.
His best-known painting is The Wounded Angel (1903), made after a bout of meningitis in 1902 kept him in bed for much of the winter. Another major work is The Garden of Death (1896), in which Grim Reaper-like figures tend gardens, traditional symbols of renewal, in a gloomy scene. He taught at the Finnish Art Association from 1907 to 1917, the year he died in Ähtäri. His biographer Helena Ruuska suspects that he suffered for years from an unknown illness, probably syphilis.
His legacy is largely national. In 2006, The Wounded Angel was voted Finland's « national painting » in a public poll organised by the Ateneum, and the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish drew on it for a 2007 music video.
Works (5)
Small-format watercolour dated 1895 and attributed to Hugo Simberg. It is classified as a figure painting, so a human figure appears to be the main subject, though no further details about its composition or background are available. It is held at the Finnish National Gallery.
Where to see the work
- Finnish National Gallery Helsinki · 5
Teachers and pupils
Studied with
- Helene Schjerfbeck 1862–1946
- Elin Danielson-Gambogi 1861–1919
Pupils
- Rudolf Koivu 1890–1946
Curiosities
An aunt as teacher
Simberg learned to read thanks to his aunt Alexandra, who ran a private school in the family home. She was also an amateur painter and probably influenced his decision to become an artist. In 1895, she sent him a newspaper clipping about symbolism, hoping it would give him the courage to take a new path. That gesture preceded his move to study with Gallen-Kallela.
A griffon for a company
Besides painting, Simberg designed the logo of the company UPM-Kymmene, a griffon dated 1899. It is little known, because his work is mostly associated with Symbolism and macabre themes. It shows that his graphic art also included design commissions for industry in Finland at the time.
A national vote
In 2006, the Ateneum organised a public vote to choose Finland's « national painting », and The Wounded Angel was the winner. It is the best-known of Simberg's works and is especially famous in Finland. The image of a winged angel with a bandaged head, carried on a stretcher by two boys in dark clothes, remains recognisable to Finnish audiences.