Prince Eugen, Duke of Närke

Biography

In Paris, where he arrived at the turn of 1886 and 1887, he was known as Monsieur Oscarsson. Under that name the prince, fourth in line to the Swedish and Norwegian thrones, drew and painted from life at Léon Bonnat’s school.

Eugen Napoleon Nicolaus was born on 1 August 1865 at Drottningholm Palace, the youngest of four sons of Oscar, then Duke of Östergötland, and Sophia of Nassau. As an infant he was at once given the title Duke of Närke. He was educated privately, passed his school-leaving examination at the end of 1883 or the beginning of 1884, and then received an officer’s commission; in 1906 he became a colonel. In 1885 he travelled to Italy, Egypt and Syria, and the book “Our Memories” (1886), published together with his brothers, contains his accounts and reproductions of three watercolours with Palestinian subjects. His first painting lessons were with Hans Gude and Wilhelm von Gegerfelt, and in 1885–1886 he studied in Uppsala. Deciding to live as an artist was not easy for him: his position at court stood in the way, although his parents supported him. He stayed in Paris from 1887 to 1889. He studied with Bonnat, Alfred Roll, Henri Gervex and, briefly, Puvis de Chavannes; to my mind, it was from Puvis that came the simplicity of composition that later shows in his decorative work. The Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt became his guide to the studios and exhibitions, and their friendship lasted. At the Exposition Universelle of 1889 the prince showed a small Skåne landscape, “Potato Field at Dalby”, and three pastel figure studies, signing them “Eugène”. The critics noticed him, and for the pastels he received an honourable mention. In December 1889 Eugen was elected the first honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Returning home, he devoted himself almost entirely to landscape, in a manner close to Impressionism. He painted the surroundings of Lake Mälaren, Södermanland, Stockholm and the places where he spent his summers: Tyresö, south of the capital, Örgården in Västergötland, and from the 1930s Österlen in Skåne. His early works are marked by close study of detail and a search for a melodious mood; “The Forest”, with its dense pine trunks, was jokingly called “the prince’s family tree” when it was exhibited. In 1893, in Södermanland, he painted “The Old Castle”, “A Last Gleam of Sun” and “The Two Poplars”: simple lines, large planes, dense foliage, tall clouds against a blue sky. In 1898 he painted the triptych “Haga Moods” for the royal foyer of the new Opera House. Later the main subjects became the Stockholm archipelago, summer nights and dawns.

He also made murals for public buildings: “White Night” (1899) and “Summer” (1904) at the Norra Latin school in Stockholm, “The City on the Water” (1917–1922) in Stockholm City Hall, and an altarpiece for the church in Kiruna. He also designed flowerpots for the Gustavsberg porcelain factory and silver bodies for the jewellers Hallbergs.

In 1899 he bought the park and estate of Waldemarsudde on Djurgården, and in 1905 he moved into a new Art Nouveau house built to the design of Ferdinand Boberg. The views from there gave him new subjects: the approach to Stockholm at different times of day and year, the white archipelago steamers, the winter factories on the southern shore. In Norway he had close friends among the painters, Erik Werenskiold and Gerhard Munthe; in 1904 he was the only Swede in an exhibition in Oslo. When the union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, he was named in Norway as a possible candidate for the throne, but his father would not allow any of his sons to accept the crown. As a young man he was called “the Red Prince” for his comparatively radical views. He supported August Strindberg and August Falck’s Intimate Theatre with money, and helped Ernst Josephson by buying “The River Sprite”, which the National Museum had rejected.

He was a Knight of the Order of St Andrew (from 1894) and of the Order of the Lion of Norway (from 21 January 1904). In 1945, for his eightieth birthday, the Prince Eugen Medal was established for artistic achievement.

The prince never married and had no children. He died on 17 August 1947. The house and the collection, which holds about three thousand paintings and graphic works, among them those of Anders Zorn, Carl Larsson, Ivan Aguéli and the prince himself, passed to the state under his will, and in 1948 Waldemarsudde opened as a museum.