Hjalmar Munsterhjelm

Magnus Hjalmar Munsterhjelm (19 October 1840 – 2 April 1905) was a Finnish landscape painter. ^[2]

Hjalmar Munsterhjelm
Munsterhjelm in 1871–1878
Born	(1840-10-19)19 October 1840 Tuulos, Grand Duchy of Finland
Died	2 April 1905(1905-04-02) (aged 64) Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Education	Member Academy of Arts (1874)[1]
Known for	Painting
Style	Classicism
Movement	Realism

Biography

Munsterhjelm was born at Toivoniemi Manor of Tuulos, Finland. He was the son of Gustaf Riggert Munsterhjelm (1806-1872) and his wife and Mathilda Charlotta Eleonora von Essen (1818-1895). His father first sent him to the Turku Maritime School. In the early 1860s, he studied art at Düsseldorf with Werner Holmberg (1830-1860) and Oswald Achenbach (1827-1905) and at Karlsruhe under Hans Gude.^[3][4]

Portrait by Olav Rusti [no], 1876

His painted landscapes were influenced by the romanticism of the Düsseldorf school, often featuring nature as a mood rather than a realistic subject. His landscape "October Evening After the First Snowfall" (1883) was purchased by Alexander III in 1885; the painting is now in the Ateneum in Helsinki.^[5][2] Two of his works, "The Evening, in Finland" and "The Night" were displayed at the 1878 Paris Exposition.^[6] His work "Evening of the First Spring" was also on display at the 1900 Paris Exposition.^[7][2]

Portrait photograph with his dog in 1899–1905

1923 silver commemorative medal of him by his son John Munsterhjelm (depicted sculpting him in the medal)

He married Olga Mathilda Tanninen (1856–1929) in 1875. They had four children, one of whom was the sculptor John Munsterhjelm (1879–1925). Munsterhjelm became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in 1897.^[8]

He kept being highly productive all the way until his death in 1905 in Helsinki.^[9][2]

In current times his moonlight paintings are some his most famous and popular.^[10][11]

Works

• 
  Shepherd in the Alps, 1860
• 
  Road in Finland, 1865
• 
  Peasant Woman from Bayern, 1860s
• 
  Birches in Summer, 1869
• 
  Village Street in Schwartzwald, 1870
• 
  Landscape from Hohenaschau, 1871
• 
  Häme Castle, 1872
• 
  Winter Landscape from Tuulos, 1874
• 
  Woodland in Hauho, Häme
• 
  Olavinlinna (Winter), 1870s
• 
  Moonlight in Barösund, late 1870s
• 
  Moonlit Night, 1883
• 
  October Evening After the First Snowfall, 1883
• 
  Morning Atmosphere (Island View), 1884
• 
  Moonlight, 1885
• 
  Crack Willows, 1897

See also

• Finnish art