Per Ekström, also Pehr or Peter (23 February 1844 – 21 January 1935) was a Swedish landscape painter, known for his atmospheric scenes with sunsets, in barren or deserted places.

Biography

Ekström was born in the small village Segerstad in the south easts part of the island Öland in Sweden. His father was a house painter. He took drawing lessons as a child, then studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts from 1865 to 1872, but was influenced by French painting rather than the prevailing Düsseldorf School. In 1876, thanks to the support of King Oscar II, he was able to go to Paris, where he lived until 1890. There, he came under the influence of the Barbizon School and

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in landscape painting, his vast output si ...

. His first exhibit at 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, ...

was in 1878 and he won a gold medal at the

Exposition Universelle (1889) The of 1889 (), better known in English as the 1889 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 6 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fifth of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more t ...

. After returning to Sweden, he lived in Öland, then Stockholm. On the advice of art collector and merchant Pontus Fürstenberg who was a major patron of the arts, he settled in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

in 1891. He continued, however, to visit Öland every summer and opened a studio in Birger Jarls Bazar, one of Stockholm's first modern office buildings. As the 1890s progressed, he began to work in a style known as mood impressionism (). His favorite places for painting were Stockholms ström and

Jämtland Jämtland () is a historical provinces of Sweden, province () in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland, Sweden, Lapland to the north and Trøndelag and Norw ...

. His home was a meeting place for the local cultural and academic world; including the writer, August Bondeson and the painters, Georg and Hanna Pauli. He also seems to have slowly become rather blasé regarding his work. In the Artists' Association ('' Konstnärsförbundet''), he was known as "Pekström" and, under criticism from Karl Nordström and Nils Kreuger, his standing there diminished. His submission for the

Exposition Universelle (1900) The Exposition Universelle of 1900 (), better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate develop ...

was rejected by the jury. He served as inspiration for the painter, Sellén; a character in '' The Red Room'' by

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...

. The largest collection of his works may be seen at 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 ...

, the

Göteborgs konstmuseum Gothenburg Museum of Art () is located at Götaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden. It claims to be the third-largest art museum in Sweden by the size of its collection. Collections The museum holds the world's finest collection of late 19th-cen ...

and Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde. A street in Södra Ängby (Per Ekströms väg") is named after him. Until 2012, there was a privately owned Per Ekström Museum in the Kalmar Art Museum. The following year, it was moved into the old Orrefors glassworks building and expanded to include other artists. The Per Ekström Society () was founded in 2016 and chaired by the art historian, Ulf Abel.

Personal life

In 1904, he married Hanna Petronella Salomonsson, the daughter of a farmer in

Alvesta Alvesta () is a locality and the seat of Alvesta Municipality in Kronoberg County, Sweden, with 8,017 inhabitants in the urban area in 2010. Alvesta is an important railway junction, joining the Stockholm–Malmö–Copenhagen railway wi ...

. In 1910, they moved to the island of

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Oland'' internationally) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. ...

. He died in 1935 in the small town Mörbylånga on

Gallery

File:Öländsk gård i solnedgång.jpg, ''Sunset in Öland'' File:Ekström solnedgång.jpg, ''Sunset'' File:Solnedgång.jpg, ''Sunset'' (1904) File:Per Ekström-Franskt landskap.jpg, ''French landscape'' (1878) File:Gräsgård Church (Per Ekström) - Nationalmuseum - 20172.tif, ''Gräsgård Church'' (1922)

References

External links

Per Ekström museet
website

from the ''

Nordisk Familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...

'' @

Project Runeberg Project Runeberg () is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded by Lars Aronsson and ...

Biography
@ the '' Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon''
More works by Ekström
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekstrom, Per 1844 births 1935 deaths People from Mörbylånga Municipality Swedish landscape painters 19th-century Swedish painters Swedish male painters 20th-century Swedish painters 19th-century Swedish male artists 20th-century Swedish male artists

Biography

Personal life

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links