Gunnar Fredrik Berndtson (24 October 1854,

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

– 9 April 1895, Helsinki) was a painter from the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...

who was noted for his attention to realistic detail.

Biography

His father was , a well-known author, journalist and poet.Biographical notes
@ Projekt Runeberg, "Nordisk familjebok". He began his higher studies at the Polytechnic Institute (now the

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; ; , HUT in international usage) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and it was one of the three universities from which the modern d ...

). Since 1869, however, he had been associating with members of the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

and was auditing art classes at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

taught by

Erik Johan Löfgren Erik Johan Löfgren (15 May 1825, Turku - 10 December 1884, Turku) was a Finnish-Swedish portrait painter. Biography He was born to a family of merchants. His first art lessons came from a Norwegian-born drawing teacher named T.J. Legler who, t ...

and others. By 1876, he had made the decision to be an artist, so he went to Paris, where he enrolled at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

and studied under

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...

. He remained there until 1882. During his stay, he became part of a group centered around

Albert Edelfelt Albert Gustaf Aristides Edelfelt (21 July 1854 – 18 August 1905) was a Finnish Painting, painter noted for his naturalistic style and Realism (arts), Realist approach to art. He lived in the Grand Duchy of Finland and made Finnish culture visib ...

(they had been friends since youth) and was influenced by the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

style of painting. His first exhibit at the Salon came in 1878. From 1882 to 1883, he visited Egypt as the guest of Alphonse, Baron Delort de Gléon (1843-1899), a mining engineer. He settled in the French community there, painting portraits and providing illustrations, as a correspondent, for '' Le Monde illustré''. Three years after his return to Finland, he got married. In 1889, he received the State Prize for portrait painting. He frequently returned to Paris to exhibit at the Salon, where he had always had his greatest successes. From 1890 to 1892, he was a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts, where

Magnus Enckell Knut Magnus Enckell (9 November 1870 in Hamina – 27 November 1925 in Stockholm) was a Finnish symbolist painter. At first, he painted with a subdued palette, but from 1902 onwards, used increasingly bright colors. He was a leading member of the ...

was among his best-known students. Others included

Ellen Thesleff Ellen Thesleff (5 October 1869 – 12 January 1954) was a Finnish expressionist painter, regarded as one of the leading Finnish modernist painters. Thesleff was born in Helsinki, the eldest daughter of five siblings and her father was an amateur ...

and Beda Stjernschantz. Berndtson died in 1895 of a "degenerative ailment"; possibly

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

. He is buried in the

Hietaniemi Cemetery The Hietaniemi cemetery (, ) is located mainly in the Lapinlahti quarter and partly in the Etu-Töölö district of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is the location for Finnish state funeral services and is owned by the Evangelical Luthe ...

in Helsinki.

Works

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Berndtson
@ Finska (blog, in Croatian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Berndtson, Gunnar 1854 births 1895 deaths Artists from Helsinki People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Genre painters Artists from the Grand Duchy of Finland Swedish-speaking Finns 19th-century Finnish painters Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery Finnish male painters 19th-century Finnish male artists

Biography

Works

See also

References

Further reading

External links