Erik Schmidt (15 August 1925 on the island of

Naissaar Naissaar (; ) is an island in Estonia. It is located in the Gulf of Finland, northwest of the capital city Tallinn, and is administratively part of Viimsi Parish. The island has an area of . It is long and wide, and lies about from the main ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

– 18 April 2014) was a painter and writer. Schmidt's father, August Schmidt, a master mariner, was captain of SS ''Merisaar'', a merchant ship owned by Merilaid & Co. Erik also hoped to become a sea captain but he was also a talented amateur painter. Schmidt's uncle was a famous optician

Bernhard Schmidt Bernhard Woldemar Schmidt (, Naissaar, Nargen, Estonia – 1 December 1935, Hamburg) was an Estonian optician. In 1930 he invented the Schmidt camera, Schmidt telescope, which corrected for the optical errors of spherical aberration, coma, and a ...

mostly known for inventing the

Schmidt camera A Schmidt camera, also referred to as the Schmidt telescope, is a catadioptric astrophotographic telescope designed to provide wide fields of view with limited aberrations. The design was invented by Bernhard Schmidt in 1930. Some notable ...

. Schmidt went to school in the next-door Swedish school, and after four years continued his studies at the Swedish College at

Haapsalu Haapsalu () is a seaside resort town located on the west coast of Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Lääne County, and on 1 January 2020 it had a population of 9,375. History The name ''Haapsalu'' derives from the Estonian words ' ...

. His early paintings were noticed by

Ants Laikmaa Ants Laikmaa (5 May 1866, Araste – 19 November 1942, Kadarpiku) was an Estonian painter. Life Ants Laikmaa (until 1935 Hans Laipman) was born at the Paiba farm in Araste, Märjamaa Parish village. He was the 13th child of a poor Estonian fami ...

. At the age of 17 he became a teacher of the primary school where he himself had been a pupil. This freed him from the danger of having to "volunteer" for service in either the

Estonian Legion The Estonian Legion (; ) was a military unit of the Combat Support Forces of the Waffen-SS during World War II, mainly consisting of Estonian soldiers. Under the collective name "Estonian SS Legion", SS military units composed of Estonians ope ...

or the German

Arbeitsdienst The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major paramilitary organization established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate ...

. At the end of October 1943 the danger from a new

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into three differe ...

became possible and Erik Schmidt and his parents decided to leave everything and flee to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

where they got a warm welcome from the ship-owning Brodin family. After World War II Schmidt signed on as an apprentice on the maiden voyage on a Brodin Line cargo- and passenger-liner, said to be the fastest in the world. After a year he had to leave the ship in the next Swedish port in order to fulfil his military service. During one of these visits to New York City he met the Armenian painter

Ariel Agemian Haroutin "Ariel" Pascale Agemian (, 1904– November 28, 1963) was an Armenian-American artist who worked predominantly in Italy, France, and New York City in the United States. Life Of Armenian descent, Agemian was originally from Bursa, Turke ...

, who had ended his studies at the

Accademia di Belle Arti This is a list of the tertiary-level schools or academies of fine art in Italy that are recognised by the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, the Italian ministry of higher education. Accademie di Belle Arti The of ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

with a gold medal, and been dubbed Knight of the Order of St. Gregory by Pope

Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

. Agemian was a very gifted and capable teacher, who brought a complete change into Erik's seafaring life. During his voyages to South American ports, Schmidt tried his hand at drawing and painting, showed the results to Ariel, and was guided and encouraged by him, until he finally decided to give up seafaring and become a painter. After a short stay in Sweden in December 1949 he studied at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

from 1950 to 1953. After a stay in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, South Africa in 1957, he established himself in

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. Erik Schmidt described his philosophy of seeing and painting:

Awards

* Society of Culture of Estonian Swedes (Samfundet för Estlandssvensk Kultur) twice

Individual expositions

* ''Salon de Printemps'', Paris 1951. * ''Stuttaford Galleries'', Johannesburg 1954. * ''Ekströms Konstgalleri'', Stockholm 1955. * ''Ateneo de Santander'', Santander 1956. * ''Eesti Majandusühisus Produkt'', Stockholm 1957. * ''Galeria Rembrandt'', Palma de Mallorca 1980. * ''Eesti Maja'', Stockholm 1988. * ''Eesti Maja'', Stockholm 1989. * ''Claustre de Sant Antoniet'', Palma de Mallorca 2009.

Works

Erik Schmidt has published many articles. Most are in Swedish but he has also written books in Estonian, English and Spanish. * ''Tormised teekonnad''. Perona,

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

1993. * ''Optical Illusions: The Life Story of Bernhard Schmidt, the Great Stellar Optician of the Twentieth Century''. Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus, 1995, . * ''Naissaare põlised perekonnad'' (Hrsg.). Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus, 1995, . * ''Pagana eestlane''. Eesti Raamat, 1996, . * ''Tuultest tõugatud''. Eesti Raamat, 1999, . * ''Rännakud enne koitu''. Virgela, 2001, . * ''Minu onu Bernhard Schmidt''. Ilmamaa, 2002, . * ''Jumalaga, Naissaar!''. Olion,

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

2004, . * ''Päevapilte Hispaaniast''. Eesti Raamat, 2004, . * ''Bernhard Schmidt 1879–1935''. 2004.

References

* Sanden, Einar, ''The Painter From Naissaar'', Boreas Publishing House, Cardiff, 1985, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Erik 1925 births 2014 deaths Estonian painters 20th-century Estonian painters 20th-century Estonian male artists 21st-century Estonian painters 21st-century Estonian male artists 20th-century Swedish painters Swedish male painters 21st-century Swedish painters People from Viimsi Parish Estonian people of Swedish descent People from Palma de Mallorca 20th-century Swedish male artists 21st-century Swedish male artists