Hugo Birger

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Hugo Birger (born Hugo Birger Peterson; 12 January 1854 – 17 June 1887) was a Swedish painter from Stockholm. His father, Sven August Peterson, was a printmaker. By following his father around pubs in Stockholm, Birger met many artists early on, which gave him both literary and artistic interests. He started formal art study at 13 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts’ preparatory school and later studied there for about six and a half years, earning a gold medal for his painting Syndafallet (The Fall of Sin).

In 1877 he moved to Paris and spent the summer of 1878 in Barbizon with Carl Larsson and Carl Skånberg, where he began to call himself Hugo Birger. In Montmartre he lived with Ernst Josephson and painted quiet street scenes, interiors, and elegant young women. He made his Paris Salon debut in 1879 with Rue Gabrielle (now in Gothenburg’s Museum of Art) and submitted Toaletten in 1880.

From 1881 to 1882 he toured Spain and North Africa. His largest Spanish work, La feria (The Feast Day), shows a Granada breakfast and is in Gothenburg’s Museum of Art. Birger’s main patron was Pontus Fürstenberg, a Gothenburg wholesaler who provided money for his rent, food, and paints, helping many of his works stay in Gothenburg. Because of rheumatism, Paris winters were hard, and Josephson helped him by taping brushes to his wrists. Birger traveled to Granada with Christian Skredsvig and, in spring 1883, married Matilda, whom he had met there.

He completed La Feria just before the wedding; Fürstenberg bought it for 10,000 riksdaler, and it remains in Gothenburg. Birger longed to travel to Italy, but his state scholarship applications failed. In 1884–85 he and his family stayed in Tangier and the Alhambra, returning to Paris after an earthquake. In 1885 he joined Opponenterna, a group pushing reform of the Royal Swedish Academy, and in 1886 helped form the Artists’ Union. Among his late works is Scandianavian breakfast in Café Ledoyen, painted for the opening day of the Salon.

Birger’s health declined; he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died in Helsingborg on 17 June 1887 at the age of 33. He is buried in Helsingborg’s New Cemetery; his tombstone once featured a relief by Carl Larsson, which was replaced in 2008 after thefts.