Rolf Lidberg Jonas (May 26, 1930 in Järkvissle,

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 ...

– 15 February 2005) was a Swedish artist and botanist, best known for his watercolor paintings and books with paintings of

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

s depicting their life near Sweden's Indal river. In his illustrations, his trolls were very human, and usually occupied with something in nature, such as berry or mushroom picking, fishing, or gazing up in the sky. His books have been translated into 12 different languages. Lidberg's main interest was botany, especially

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s and

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

. He was also a founder of a local mycological society in 1970, traveled around Europe to paint and draw vegetation, and spent long periods in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, where he became an honorary citizen of the city

Geraci Siculo Geraci Siculo ( Sicilian: ''Jiraci'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of ...

. Lidberg was known for having had hunchback and big beard, closely resembling the trolls that were one of his favorite subjects for illustration. He even named one of his famous troll illustrations, "Self-Portrait." In the early 1980s, Swedish national television channel SVT broadcast a series of three programs on Rolf Lidberg, titled, "A Man and His Flowers."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lidberg, Rolf 1930 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Swedish botanists Swedish watercolourists 20th-century Swedish illustrators 20th-century Swedish sculptors Swedish botanical illustrators Swedish fantasy artists 20th-century Swedish painters People from Sundsvall Municipality