# 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 (Swedish: Fredrikshamn), Finland, the son of Colonel Nicolai Simberg and Ebba Matilda Simberg (née Widenius). 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. Then, in 1895, 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.
In 1896, Simberg went to London, and in 1897 to Paris and Italy. During these years he exhibited several works at the Finnish Artists' autumn exhibitions, including Autumn, Frost, The Devil Playing and Aunt Alexandra (1898), which were well received. Critical success led to his being made a member of the Finnish Art Association and to his being appointed to teach at the Drawing School of the Viipuri Friends of Art.
In 1904, he was commissioned to decorate the interior of St John's church in Tampere (now Tampere Cathedral), a project which he carried out with Magnus Enckell between 1904 and 1906. At the turn of the year 1907-08 he made a short visit to the United States. He also designed the UPM-Kymmene logo, the Griffon (1899).
From around 1907 to 1913, he taught at the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Association at Ateneum. In 1910, he married Anni Bremer. They had two children, Tom and Uhra-Beata, the latter of whom became a rya artist.
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. Simberg's most famous painting is The Wounded Angel. Its titular character appears in the shape of a winged angel with a bandaged head, borne on a stretcher by two somberly dressed boys, one of whom looks toward the viewer with a serious expression. The painting is the best known of the artist's works and is especially famous in Finland. The Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish released in 2007 a music video influenced by this painting, "Amaranth".
* The Wounded Angel, 1903, voted Finland's "national painting" in a public vote organized by Ateneum in 2006
* The Garden of Death, 1896
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

* Frost (fi), 1895, gouache
* Autumn I, 1895
* Poppy, 1896
* On the Stream of Life, 1896
* King Hobgoblin Sleeping, 1896
* The Devil Playing, 1896
* The Devil by the Pot (fi), 1897
* Spring Evening During the Break-Up of the Ice, 1897 (fi)
* The Wind Blows, 1897
* The Poor Devil with its Twins, 1898, watercolor and oil
* The Farmer's Wife and the Poor Devil with its Twins, 1899
* Yawning Snake, 1899, painted on his travels in the Caucasus
* Sheep Girl, 1913
* Towards the evening, 1913