hugo simberg
Hugo Simberg was born June, 24th 1873, in Hamina, Finland. He was the son of Colonel Nicolai and Ebba Matilda Simberg. When he turned 18 (year 1891), Hugo enrolled at the Drawing School of the Viipuri Friends of Art, and also went to the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Association. But, in 1895, Hugo became a pupil of Akseli Gallen-Kallela, a Swedish-Finnish painter, in his Wilderness studio called Kalela in Ruovesi, Finland. In 1896, Hugo went to London, and also visited Paris and Italy a year later. During those years of travelling, Hugo exhibited his works of art in the Finnish Artists' autumn exhibitions, and his paintings were well received. The success of those paintings caused him to be inducted as a member of the Finnish Art Association, and was also appointed to be a teacher where he learned to paint, at the Drawing School of the Viipuri Friends of Art. Years later, in 1904, Hugo was asked to decorate the inside of the Saint John's church in Tampere. He painted alongside Magnus Enckell, another Finnish Symbolic painter, between 1904 and 1906. From 1907 to 1917, Hugo was a teacher at the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Association. He died at Ahtari on 12 July 1917.