Otto Hesselbom

Johan Otto Hesselbom (13 July 1848 – 20 June 1913) was a Swedish landscape painter.^[1][2]

Hesselbom was born at Ånimskogs parish in Dalsland, Sweden. His father was a farmer who held several offices in the local village, but died in 1854, when Otto was only six. His mother attempted to maintain the farm for several years, but was eventually unsuccessful. Hesselbom suffered from a condition that gave him random muscular spasms and was physically unsuited to farm labor. In 1868, he went to Stockholm to attend the Tekniska Skolan and learn a trade. He discovered that he had a talent for art, but financial difficulties prevented him from completing his studies. He was able to find a position with the Swedish Evangelical Mission and stay at their shelter. This led to two years of study at their mission school.^[3]

In 1876, he became a pastor at Luleå in Norrbotten. The workload and the climate proved to be too much for him, so he used some doctrinal disagreements as an excuse for leaving. After his health improved, he returned as a representative of the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden. In 1877, he married Johanna Englund (1850–1890). In 1882, he joined the Baptist Union of Sweden and moved to Stockholm with his family where he returned to focusing on his artistic abilities. ^[4]

Thanks to a recommendation from the Tekniska Skolan, he was given permission to copy paintings at the Nationalmuseum. This led to an acquaintance with museum director Per Daniel Holm (1835–1903), who also taught at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. He arranged for Hesselbom to enroll there; beginning his art career in earnest at the age of forty. ^[3][5]

Abandonó la academia en 1895 y, al año siguiente, una de sus obras se expuso en Berlín . Su primera gran exposición tuvo lugar en la Exposición General de Arte e Industria de Estocolmo en 1897. A esta le siguieron exposiciones en Venecia (1901), Budapest , París (1906) y Viena . En 1906, pudo permitirse su propia villa en Säffle , en Värmland . Falleció en 1913 en la parroquia de By, en Värmland . Ese mismo año, su viuda donó muchas de sus obras a galerías de Suecia. Algunas fueron adquiridas por galerías de Venecia y Viena. En 1920, su tumba en el cementerio de Ånimskog fue decorada con un medallón y un busto, obra del escultor Oscar Vitalis Gustafson (1888-1952). ^{[ 6 ]}

• Lidman, Peter; Löfgren, Tommy (1999) Ars longa, vita brevis  : Konsten är lång, livet är kort  : Otto Hesselbom 1848-1913 (museo de Dalslands)
• Jäder, Karl (1952) Otto Hesselbom  : ett konstnärsöde (Estocolmo: Norte)

• Pinturas de Hesselbom ArtNet
• Museo Nacional de pinturas de Hesselbom