August Strindberg
August Strindberg was a Swedish artist who lived from 1849 to 1912. He was interested in the philosophy of Naturalism and the science of Psychology, blending the two into a modern Expressionist form. He was a Renaissance man and excelled in many arts, though he came to notoriety for his plays. He was a playwright, novelist, poet, and painter. He is called the father of modern Swedish literature.
Strindberg was born to a fallen member of the aristocratic class who had become bankrupt, and a former waitress. His childhood was difficult, as he endured poverty, religious fanaticism, and family strife, which he discussed in his autobiography.
Strindberg attended the University of Uppsala, first for the ministry and then for medicine. He never finished his studies, and worked as a journalist to make ends meet. He published his first play, Mäster Olof, in 1872, about the Swedish Reformation. The Royal Theater in Stockholm initially rejected the play. As Strindberg worked on his edits, he grew contempt for the academic path artists were forced to take. Strindberg was financially unstable until 1874 when he began working as a curator at the National Library in Stockholm.
In the 1870s, Strindberg turned to the visual arts and began painting as an alternate means of expression, which gave him brief but necessary periods away from writing and helped him to manage periods of writer’s block. He made his first painting in 1872, which is unfortunately lost to history. Strindberg painted landscapes and seascapes, that were unique and radical in their expressionism style and lack of formality. He embraced spontaneity, creating truly original works of art. Today, 117 paintings by him are known to exist and sell for extremely high prices.
In the late 1870s, Strindberg went through a wide variety of monumental life moments. In 1877, he married Siri von Essen, an actress. In 1878, he became bankrupt. In 1879, his novel, The Red Room, was published. After a rocky release, it caught on and became a critical success. It was hailed as the first modern Swedish novel. In satire form, he wrote about the abuses and fraudulent practices of Stockholm society. Strindberg was anti-establishment and a socialist. He thought the only true way to move forward was to burn the current system to the ground and start over.
In the 1880s, Strindberg and his family moved around frequently, from Stockholm, to Paris, then Lindau in Germany. He moved in the intellectual circles of Émile Zola and similar minded people. In 1891, after a violent altercation, Strindberg’s wife left him and ended the marriage, taking custody of their four children.
In 1893, Strindberg married Frida Uhl, a young journalist, and the couple had a daughter. Their marriage was brief, ending in 1895. In 1901, he married a third time, this time to actress Harriet Bosse. This marriage was also brief, ending in 1904 after the birth of their daughter. Strindberg’s strained relationship with women became a common theme in his writings.
Strindberg developed stomach cancer, the first signs of which he felt in 1908. During Christmas of 1911, he became sick with pneumonia, from which he never fully recovered. His ailments exacerbated each other, and he died on May 14, 1912, at age 63.
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