Nils Forsberg

Nils Forsberg (17 December 1842 – 8 November 1934) was a Swedish painter who lived and worked in Paris for much of his career.^[2]

Nils Forsberg
Born	Nils Forsberg 17 December 1842[1] Riseberga
Died	8 November 1934(1934-11-08) (aged 91)[1] Helsingborg
Nationality	Swedish
Known for	Painter

Life

Forsberg was born in a small village called Riseberga, in the province of Scania.^[3][1] The son of a peasant, he spent his early years in farming, then was apprenticed to a house-painter in Gothenburg.^[3] He made a statue of Minerva which procured for him a government stipend which enabled him to go to Paris in 1867.^[3] In Paris he was a student in the atelier of Léon Bonnat.^[4][3][5] Art historian Richard Muther would later write that Forsberg "became the Swedish Bonnat".^[6] The siege of Paris, during which he enlisted in the Ambulance Department, afforded him opportunities for studying and sketching the scenes that he observed.^[3] In 1877 he exhibited Family of Acrobats before the Circus Director, now in the Gothenburg Museum of Art.^[3] This work, which typifies Forsberg's commitment to social reform, shows the influence of the French Realists in its depiction of child labor.^[2]

Nils Forsberg Death of a Hero (1888)

Oil sketch for "Death of a Hero"

In 1888 he received the gold medal at the Salon for his painting The Death of a Hero,^[5][6][7] now in the Nationalmuseum of Stockholm.^[8] The culmination of his ambition to renew traditional history painting with a vigorous contemporary realism, it took him several years to complete, and was inspired by his experiences during the Franco-Prussian War.^[2] Afterwards he devoted himself more especially to historical subjects.^[3] In 1904 he returned to Sweden, where he lived in Helsingborg.^[2] He died in Helsingborg on 8 November 1934.^[1][2]

He had a son, Nils Forsberg the younger (b 1870), who was also a painter.^[2]

Permanent collections

In total, 25 of Forsberg's works are held by the Nationalmuseum.^[8] Several of his works, including the 1900 painting Gustaf II Adolf before Battle of Lützen,^[9] are held by the Gothenburg Museum of Art.^[10]

Gallery

• 
  A Communard (1871) Nationalmuseum
• 
  Family of Acrobats before the Circus Director (1877)
• 
  Gustav II Adolf before the Battle of Lutzen of 1632, in which the king died. Gothenburg Museum of Art, 1900
• 
  Stenbock's Courier (1911)
• 
  Self-portrait (1882)