Nils Blommér, born Nils Johan Olsson (12 June 1816 – 1 February 1853) was a
Swedish painter and educator. His middle name is sometimes given as Jakob.
Biography
He was born to the schoolteacher, Anders Olsson, and his wife, Elsa née Jakobsdotter, in Blommeröd, a village in the
Diocese of Lund.
He started his career as an apprentice to in
Lund then, in 1839, enrolled at the
Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. In 1847, he received a generous scholarship that enabled him to go to Paris, where he studied with
Léon Cogniet. It was there he adopted the name "Blommér", after his birthplace. Later, he came under the influence of the
neo-romantics, such as
Erik Gustaf Geijer,
Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom and
Erik Johan Stagnelius. He also drew inspiration from Swedish folk songs and the folklore motifs of the Austrian painter,
Moritz von Schwind
image:Moritz von Schwind 2.jpg, 200px, Moritz von Schwind, c. 1860.
Moritz von Schwind (21 January 1804 – 8 February 1871) was an Austrian painter, born in Vienna. Schwind's genius was lyrical—he drew inspiration from chivalry, folklore, and t ...
. He firmly believed that nature had an inherent soul; symbolized by folk characters.
Around 1850, he moved to Italy where, in November 1852, he married
Edla Gustafva Jansson, also a painter. A few weeks later, he caught
pneumonia and died in Rome, from related complications, early the following year.
Blommér's best known works are based on
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
and folklore. They include ''Älfdrömmen'', ''Sommarnattsdrömmen'', ''Näcken och Ägirs döttrar'', ''Brage och Iduna'', ''Freja'', ''Loke och Sigyn'' and ''Älfvor''. They may be seen at the
Göteborgs konstmuseum,
Livrustkammaren and the
Nationalmuseum
Nationalmuseum is the List of national galleries, national gallery of fine arts of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm.
The museum's operations stretch far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, including the Natio ...
.
Gallery
Image:Freya and Heimdall by Blommer.jpg, ''Heimdal öfverlemnar till Freja smycket Bryfing'' (Heimdallr
In Norse mythology, Heimdall (from Old Norse Heimdallr; modern Icelandic language, Icelandic Heimdallur) is a Æsir, god. He is the son of Odin and nine mothers. Heimdall keeps watch for invaders and the onset of Ragnarök from his dwelling Himi ...
returns the necklace Bryfing to Freyja), 1845
Image:Idunn and Bragi by Blommer.jpg, ''Brage och Iduna'', (Bragi
Bragi (Old Norse) is the skaldic god of poetry in Norse mythology.
Etymology
The theonym Bragi probably stems from the masculine noun ''bragr'', which can be translated in Old Norse as 'poetry' (cf. Icelandic ''bragur'' 'poem, melody, wise' ...
and Iðunn), 1846
Image:Ängsälvor - Nils Blommér 1850.jpg, ''Ängsälvor'' (meadow elves), 1850
File:The_Water-Sprite_and_%C3%84gir%27s_Daughters_(Nils_Blomm%C3%A9r)_-_Nationalmuseum_-_18200.tif, ''Näcken och Ägirs döttrar'' ( Necks and Ægir's Daughters), 1850
Image:Freja Seeking her Husband (Nils Blommér) - Nationalmuseum - 18201.tif, ''Freja sökande sin make'' (Freyja Seeking her Husband), 1852
References
Sources
This article is based on the public domain ''Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon''* Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, ''Historie-målaren Nils Johan Olsson Blommér'', 1854
* Annika Nordin, "På spaning efter Näcken eller en spelmans jordefärd", In: ''Paletten'', Vol.4, 1990 pp. 15–19
* Patrik Reuterswärd, "Två fullödiga verk av Nils Jakob Blommér: "Ängsälvor" och ett makalöst porträtt", In: ''Konsthistorisk tidskrift'', 1996, Scandinavian University Press
* August Sohlman, "N. J. O. Blommér", In: ''Svea folkkalender'', 1854
* Gustave Thomæus, ''Nils Jakob Blommér'', Skånska Central, 1922
WorldCat
1816 births
1853 deaths
19th-century Swedish painters
Mythological painters
Swedish male painters
Deaths from pneumonia in Lazio
19th-century Swedish male artists
People from Sjöbo Municipality
Artists from Skåne County
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