Hugo Fredrik Salmson (1843-1894) was a Swedish painter known for his work in figures and genre scenes. Born in Stockholm, he was the son of wholesaler Fredrik Ludvig Salmson and Maria Perlberg. Although initially pursuing a career in business, Hugo soon discovered his passion for art and shifted his focus to painting.
In 1862, he began studying at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Johan Christoffer Boklund. His painting depicting Sten Sture the Younger meeting Gustav Trolle in Uppsala Cathedral (1867) earned him a prestigious Royal Medal and a scholarship for further studies abroad.
In 1868, Salmson traveled to Paris via Düsseldorf. Unable to secure a spot in the sought-after classes of Léon Bonnat and Alexandre Cabanel, he opted for private lessons with Pierre-Charles Comte. In 1870, He made his debut at the Salon with exhibiting a genre painting with title “Révélation”, which featured a cottage in Dalarna. During the Franco-Prussian War, he relocated to Brussels, where he continued his work.
Salmson maintained a studio in Paris until the early 1880s and frequently visited the region of Picardy. By 1883, he was spending his summers in Dalby, Skåne. After returning to Sweden, he became a member of the Royal Academy and even taught Prince Eugen. However, he later aligned himself with Opponenterna, a group that opposed the Academy's traditional teaching methods.
Salmson exhibited his work at various prestigious events, including the Paris Salon, several Royal Academy exhibitions in Stockholm (1886-1888), the World Exhibition (1878), the Exposition Universelle (1889) in Paris, the Nordic Exhibition of 1888 in Copenhagen, and there were many more exhibitions.
In his later years, Salmson focused primarily on portrait painting, using both oil and pastel mediums. Despite his success, he was known for being reclusive and suffered from bouts of depression. He passed away in 1894 while staying at a hotel in Lund.
Today, Hugo Fredrik Salmson's work is preserved in numerous museums, including the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Art Museum, the Malmö Art Museum, Prince Eugens Waldemarsudde, Lund University, the Musée de Picardie, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, the Bergen City Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
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