Tove Jansson, Before the Masquerade, 1943 Fresco at the Helsinki City Hall, murals at Aurora Children´s Hospital in Helsinki and number of murals in schools and kindergartens as well as the altarpiece at Teuva church are part of her most significants public works. During her career Tove Jansson had also several solo exhibitions and by comparing these the development of her artistic style can be seen. Public works and other decorative paintings were important part of Tove Jansson´s artwork. Tove Jansson, Party in the Countryside, Helsinki Art Museum Her starting point was always to present something real and concrete like landscapes, portraits and combinations. She created a variety of paintings, public works as well as the graphics.

Tove Jansson in 1956Īs a visual artist Jansson was a multi-talented being able to use many different techniques and to follow different style trends. All the illustration in the Moomin books were created by her. She continued to work as an artist for the rest of her life, alongside her writing. At the same time, she was writing short stories and articles for publication, as well as creating the graphics for book covers and other purposes. Her first solo art exhibition was in 1943.

Moomintroll diving into the deep.īrought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Stockholm, Helsinki and then Paris. It was a surprise to me, when I was told that the writer of the book – Tove Marika Jansson was also a painter, illustrator and comic strip author. I hope you know Moomins from your childhood! It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid.

Tove jansson illustrations