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{{good article}}{{short description|Finnish author, illustrator (1914–2001)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}

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| birth_name = Tove Marika Jansson19149|df=y}}| birth_place = Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland2001278df=y}}| death_place = Helsinki, FinlandFinland>FinnishSwedish language>Swedish| occupation = Artist, writerMoomins>The MoominsThe Summer Book| partner = Tuulikki PietiläHans Christian Andersen Award Order of the Smile Pro Finlandia |1976}}| signature = Tove Jansson signature.svg}}Tove Marika Jansson ({{IPA-sv|ˈtuːve ˈjɑːnsːon|-|Sv-Tove_Jansson.ogg}}; 9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Helsinki, Stockholm, and Paris. She held her first solo art exhibition in 1943. Over the same period, she penned short stories and articles for publication, and subsequently drew illustrations for book covers, advertisements, and postcards. She continued her work as an artist and writer for the rest of her life.Jansson wrote the Moomin novel series for children, starting with the 1945 The Moomins and the Great Flood. The following two books, Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll, published in 1946 and 1948 respectively, were highly successful, and sales of the first book increased correspondingly. For her work as a children's author she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1966; among her many later awards was the Selma Lagerlöf Prize in 1992. Her Moomin stories have been adapted for the theatre, the cinema, and as an opera.She held a solo exhibition of paintings in 1955, and five more between 1960 and 1970. She carried out several commissions for murals in public buildings around Finland between 1945 and 1984. She created the illustrations both for her own books and for classics including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Hobbit. Starting with the semi-autobiographical (Sculptor's Daughter) in 1968, Jansson wrote six novels, including the admiredBOOK,weblink Tove Jansson - Ord, bild, liv, Westin, Boel, Albert Bonniers, 2013, 978-9-51-501672-0, sv, (The Summer Book), and five short story collections for adults.

Early life

(File:Tove Jansson 1923.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Jansson in 1923)Tove Jansson was born in Helsinki, in the Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous state ruled by the Russian Empire at the time. Her family, part of the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland, was an artistic one: her father, Viktor Jansson, was a sculptor, and her mother, Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, was a Swedish-born graphic designer and illustrator. Tove's siblings also became artists: Per Olov Jansson became a photographer and Lars Jansson an author and cartoonist. Whilst their home was in Helsinki, the family spent many of their summers in a rented cottage on one of the islands of Pellinki near Porvoo, {{convert|50|km|abbr=in}} east of Helsinki; The Söderskär Lighthouse island off Porvoo in the Gulf of Finland may have helped to inspire her later books, such as Moominpappa at Sea.WEB,weblink Söderskär Lighthouse, 3 July 2019, Helsinki This Week, 26 November 2020,weblink dead, Jansson went to Finland's first co-educational school, in Helsinki.WEB, Tove Jansson,weblink Tovejansson.com, 5 December 2023, Läroverket för gossar och flickor (an educational institution for boys and girls), also known as Brobergska samskolan, Helsinki 1923–1930, She then studied at Konstfack (University College of Arts, Crafts and Design), in Stockholm in 1930–1933, the Graphic School of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 1933–1937, and finally at and in Paris in 1938.WEB,weblink Tove Jansson, Liukkonen, Petri, Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi), Kuusankoski Public Library, Finland,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080916102623weblink">weblink 16 September 2008, dead, Her first solo exhibition was held in 1943.At age 14, Jansson wrote and illustrated her first picture book (Sara and Pelle and Neptune's Children).WEB,weblink/, ArchWay With Words, ArchWayWithWords.co.uk, 2017-09-05, https:web.archive.org/web/20181129185831weblink 29 November 2018, dead, It was not published until 1933. She also sold drawings that were published in magazines in the 1920s.WEB,weblink 7 August 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110807230113weblink">weblink live, Jansson, Tove (1914–2001), Ahola, Suvi, 2008, Biografiakeskus, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Fletcher, Roderick, 4 February 2009, In the 1930s Jansson made several trips to other European countries. She drew from these for her short stories and articles, which she also illustrated, and which were also published in magazines, periodicals and daily papers. During this period, Jansson also designed many book covers, adverts and postcards. Following her mother's example, she drew illustrations for Garm, a Finnish-Swedish political and satirical magazine.

Work

Moomins

{{further|List of Moomin characters}}(File:Finn Family.png|thumb|upright|left|Cover of Finn Family Moomintroll (1948))Jansson is principally known as the author of the Moomin books. Jansson created the Moomintrolls, a family who are white, round and smooth in appearance, with large snouts that make them vaguely resemble hippopotamuses. She first drew a deliberately ugly creature as a caricature of Immanuel Kant, the philosopher; a kinder version became the Moomintroll. The first book, The Moomins and the Great Flood, was written in 1945. Although the primary characters are Moominmamma and Moomintroll, most of the principal characters of later stories were only introduced in the next book, so The Moomins and the Great Flood is frequently considered a forerunner to the main series. The book was not a success, but the next two installments in the Moomin series, Comet in Moominland (1946) and Finn Family Moomintroll (1948), brought Jansson some fame.{{efn|The original title of Finn Family Moomintroll, , which would more literally be The Magician's Hat in English.}}WEB,weblink Tove Jansson: Love, war and the Moomins, Bosworth, Mark, BBC, 13 March 2014, 13 March 2014, The style of the Moomin books changed as time went by. The first books, written starting just after the Second World War, up to Moominland Midwinter (1957), are adventure stories that include floods, comets and supernatural events.NEWS, Allardice, Lisa, 'It is a religion': how the world went mad for Moomins,weblink 2019-04-06, The Guardian, 2019-04-07, 0261-3077, The Moomins and the Great Flood deals with Moominmamma and Moomintroll's flight through a dark and scary forest, where they encounter various dangers. In Comet in Moominland, a comet nearly destroys the Moominvalley. Some critics have considered this an allegory of nuclear weapons.BOOK, Schoolfield, George C., A history of Finland's literature, 572, University of Nebraska Press, 1998, 978-0-8032-4189-3, Finn Family Moomintroll deals with adventures brought on by the discovery of a magician's hat. The Exploits of Moominpappa (1950) tells the story of Moominpappa's adventurous youth and cheerfully parodies the genre of memoir.WEB,weblink Introduction to Moomin books: The Exploits of Moominpappa, 1950, 21 December 2015, Finally, Moominsummer Madness (Farlig midsommar, 1955) is set in a theatre: the Moomins explore the empty building and perform Moominpappa's melodrama.WEB, Detweiler, Katelyn, Moominsummer Madness Re-read,weblink Tor.com, 3 December 2023, 22 April 2010, Moominland Midwinter marks a turning point in the series. Jansson described it as a book about “what it is like when things get difficult”: the story focuses on Moomintroll, who wakes up in the middle of the winter (Moomins hibernate from November to April), and has to cope with the strange and unfriendly world he finds.NEWS, My favourite book as a kid ... Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson,weblink The Guardian, 7 May 2020, NEWS, 'It is a religion': how the world went mad for Moomins, The Guardian,weblink 6 April 2019, The short story collection Tales from Moominvalley (1962) and the novels Moominpappa at Sea (1965) and Moominvalley in November (1970) are serious and psychologically searching books, far removed from the light-heartedness and cheerful humor of Finn Family Moomintroll. Moominvalley in November, in which the Moomin family themselves never appear, is especially sombre in tone, possibly in consequence of the death of Jansson's mother during the year that it was written. Because of this, it has been described as being a "textbook on letting go, being a mature orphan, existing spiritually alone". Following this book, Jansson stated that she "couldn't go back and find that happy Moominvalley again" and so decided to stop writing the Moomin books.NEWS, Burr, Ty, Moomin Struck - Tove Jansson: 1914-2001,weblink Entertainment Weekly, 25 November 2012, 27 July 2001, 25 July 2015, live,weblink In addition to the Moomin novels and short stories, Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated four picture books: The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My (1952),WEB, Casper, Robert,weblink Celebrating Tove Jansson, Library of Congress, 2014-08-11, 2017-01-01, Who will Comfort Toffle? (1960), The Dangerous Journey (1977) and An Unwanted Guest (1980). As the Moomins' fame grew, two of the original novels, Comet in Moominland and The Exploits of Moominpappa, were revised{{efn|The first edition (1946) of Comet in Moominland echoed the threat to Finland of a Soviet takeover at that time. The 1956 and 1968 editions were edited as the threats changed. By 1968, that was nuclear war.JOURNAL, Markkanen, Tapio, Echoes of Cosmic Events and Global Politics in Moominvalley: Cosmic and Astronomical Sources of Incitement in Tove Jansson's Comet in Moominland, Acta Baltica Historiae et Philosophiae Scientiarum, 2016, 4, 1, 10.11590/abhps.2016.1, free, }} by Jansson and republished.BOOK, Jansson, Tove, Mumintrollet på kometjakt, 1956, Sörlins förlag, Vadstena, 2nd, Swedish, BOOK, Jansson, Tove, Muminpappans memoarer, 1956, Geber, Stockholm, 2nd, Swedish, File:Tove Jansson 1956.jpg|thumb|Jansson in 1956 with Moomintroll dolls made by Atelier FauniAtelier FauniCritics have interpreted various Moomin characters as being inspired by real people, especially members of the author's family and close friends, and Jansson spoke in interviews about the backgrounds of, and possible models for, her characters. The personality of Tuulikki Pietilä, Jansson's partner, inspired the character Too-Ticky in Moominland Midwinter, while Moomintroll and Little My have been seen as psychological self-portraits of the artist. The Moomins relate strongly to Jansson's own family – they were bohemian and lived close to nature. Jansson remained close to her mother until her mother's death in 1970; even after Tove had become an adult, the two often traveled together, and during her final years Signe lived with Tove part-time. Moominpappa and Moominmamma are often seen as portraits of Jansson's parents.

Other writing

Jansson's first foray outside children's literature was Bildhuggarens dotter (Sculptor's Daughter), a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1968. She went on to write five more novels for adults, including (The Summer Book) and five collections of short stories. The Summer Book is the best known of her adult fiction; it describes the summer stay on an island of a young girl and her grandmother. The girl is modelled on her niece, Sophia Jansson; the girl's father on Sophia's father, Lars Jansson; and the grandmother on Tove's mother Signe.

Wartime satire in Garm magazine

File:Tove Jansson cover of Garm magazine October 1944.jpg|thumb|upright|Cover of Garm magazine, October 1944, lampooning (Adolf Hitler]] as "self-important and comic"JOURNAL, McDonagh, Melanie, 18 November 2017, A chance to see the Moomins' creator for the genius she really was: Tove Janssons reviewed,weblinkweblink 6 January 2018, dead, The Spectator, November 2017, )Tove Jansson worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish-language satirical magazine Garm from 1929 to 1953, when the magazine ceased production.JOURNAL, Ant O'Neill, Moominvalley Fossils: Translating the Early Comics of Tove Jansson, Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature, 2017, 55, 2, 52, 10.1353/bkb.2017.0023, 151535137, 0006-7377,weblink One of her political cartoons achieved a brief international fame: she drew Adolf Hitler as a crying baby in diapers, surrounded by Neville Chamberlain and other great European leaders, who tried to calm the baby down by giving it slices of cake – Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, etc. In the Second World War, during which Finland fought against the Soviet Union, part of the time cooperating with Nazi Germany,MAGAZINE,weblink Finland in World War II, Taylor, Alan, 23 May 2013, The Atlantic, 5 January 2018, her cover illustrations for Garm lampooned both Hitler and Joseph Stalin: in one, Stalin draws his sword from his impressively long scabbard, only to find it absurdly short; in another, multiple Hitlers ransack a house, carrying away food and artworks. In The Spectator{{'}}s view, Jansson made both "Hitler and Stalin appear as preposterous little figures, self-important and comic".

Comic strip artist

{{See also|Moomin comic strips}}Her earliest comic strips were created for productions including (, 1929), (', 1930), and (, 1933).WEB,weblink Comic creator: Tove Jansson, lambiek.net, 18 November 2014, The figure of the Moomintroll appeared first in Jansson's political cartoons, where it was used as a signature character near the artist's name. This "Proto-Moomin", then called Snork or Niisku, was thin and ugly, with a long, narrow nose and devilish tail. Jansson said that she had designed the Moomins in her youth: after she lost a philosophical quarrel about Immanuel Kant with one of her brothers, she drew "the ugliest creature imaginable" on the wall of their outhouse and wrote under it "Kant". This Moomin later gained weight and a more pleasant appearance, but in the first Moomin book The Moomins and the Great Flood (originally ), the Immanuel-Kant-Moomin is still perceptible. The name Moomin comes from Tove Jansson's uncle, Einar Hammarsten: when she was studying in Stockholm and living with her Swedish relatives, her uncle tried to stop her pilfering food by telling her that a "Moomintroll" lived in the kitchen closet and breathed cold air down people's necks.In 1952, after Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll had been translated into English, a British newspaper man, Charles Sutton, asked if Tove Jansson would be interested in drawing comic strips about the Moomins. Jansson accepted the offer. The comic strip Moomintroll started in the London Evening News, which had a circulation of 12 million at that time, making it the world's largest daily newspaper. The strip spread to hundreds of other newspapers in 12 countries.

Painter and illustrator

Paintings

Although she became known first and foremost as an author, Tove Jansson considered her careers as author and painter to be of equal importance. She painted throughout her life. She exhibited during the 1930s and early 1940s, holding her first solo exhibition in 1943. Despite generally positive reviews, criticism induced Jansson to refine her style; her 1955 solo exhibition was simpler in detail and content. Between 1960 and 1970 she held five more solo exhibitions. The National Biography of Finland describes Jansson as going "against the conventional image of an artist with her unusually even balance between visual art and writing."

Murals

Throughout her career, Jansson created a series of commissioned murals and public works which may still be viewed in their original locations, including:

• The canteen at the factory at , Helsinki (1945)
• The Aurora Children's Hospital in Helsinki
• The hotel at Hamina
• The Wise and Foolish Virgins altarpiece in Teuva Church (1954)
• Fairy-tale murals in schools, including the kindergarten in Pori (1984)

Illustrations

{{further|Illustrating Tolkien}}File:Tove_Jansson_Smaug_destroys_Lake-town.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail of Jansson's drawing of Smaug destroying Lake-town, a scene from a 1962 edition of The Hobbit. Her work helped to define how fantasyfantasyAs well as illustrating her own books, Jansson illustrated Swedish translations of classics such as Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.She created a set of illustrations for the 1962 Swedish edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 children's book The Hobbit.WEB, Tove Jansson's illustrations for Carroll and Tolkien,weblink British Library: European Studies Blog, 8 November 2021, The scholar of literature Björn Sundmark states that Jansson's work helped to define how Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy could be depicted visually.BOOK, Sundmark, Björn, Translating and Transmediating Children's Literature, The Translation and Visualization of Tolkien's The Hobbit into Swedish, the Aesthetics of Fantasy, and Tove Jansson’s Illustrations, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2020, 978-3-030-52526-2, 10.1007/978-3-030-52527-9_7, 117–132, 226550272, The edition with her illustrations was not reprinted for many years,{{efn|It was eventually reprinted in 1994 in the same 24 cm format by Rabén Prisma, {{isbn|978-9-15182-727-8}}.}} even though reviewers and "Tolkienists" liked Jansson's "expressive" images. Sundmark suggests that the reason was that in the 1960s, a new, more realistic style became the norm for fantasy art.JOURNAL, Sundmark, Björn, "En hobbit och ett mumintroll skulle kunna mötas i bästa sämja": Receptionen av Bilbo, en hobbits äventyr (1962), Swedish, "A hobbit and a moomintroll would be able to meet in complete harmony": Reception of 'Bilbo, en hobbits äventyr', Barnboken, The Swedish Institute for Children's Books, 37, 2014, 0347-772X, 10.14811/clr.v37i0.186, free, 2043/20341, free,

Adaptations

{{further|Moomins}}Several stage productions have been made from Jansson's Moomin series, including a number that Jansson herself was involved in. The earliest production was a 1949 theatrical version of Comet in Moominland performed at Åbo Svenska Teater. In the early 1950s, Jansson collaborated on Moomin-themed children's plays with Vivica Bandler. In 1952, Jansson designed stage settings and dresses for Pessi and Illusia, a ballet by Ahti Sonninen () which was performed at the Finnish National Opera. By 1958, Jansson began to become directly involved in theater as Lilla Teater produced (Troll in the wings), a play with lyrics by Jansson and music composed by Erna Tauro. The production was a success, despite the actors' difficulties speaking through their bulbous "Moominsnouts", and later performances were held in Sweden and Norway.In 1974 the first Moomin opera was produced, with music composed by Ilkka Kuusisto. The Moomintrolls have been adapted to media including television animations such as the 1990 Moomin series,BOOK, Clements, Jonathan, Jonathan Clements, McCarthy, Helen, Helen McCarthy, The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917,weblink limited, Revised and Expanded, 2006, Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, California, 978-1933330105, 428, and feature films.NEWS, The 58th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express® announces full 2014 programme,weblink 8 September 2014, 4 September 2014, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140908230932weblink">weblink 8 September 2014,

Personal life

File:Tuulikki Pietilä Tove Jansson and Signe Hammarsten-Jansson 1956.jpeg|thumb|left|Tuulikki Pietilä, Tove Jansson and her mother Signe at Klovharu, the island in the PorvooPorvooJansson had several male lovers, including the political philosopher Atos Wirtanen, and briefly became engaged to him. He was the inspiration for the Moomin character Snufkin. However, she eventually "went over to the spook side" as she put it—a coded expression for homosexualityNEWS,weblink Mamma of all the Moomins, 2014-01-09, Evening Standard, 2019-04-07, WEB,weblink The Gay Love Stories of Moomin and the Queer Radicality of Tove Jansson, 2018-10-03, Autostraddle, 2019-04-07, WEB,weblink Tove Jansson: Out of the Closet, Vanderhooft, JoSelle, 2010-05-02, Tor.com, 2019-04-07, —and developed a secret love affair with the married theater director Vivica Bandler.WEB,weblink Meet The Queer, Anti-Fascist Woman Behind The Freakishly Lovable 'Moomins', Frank, Priscilla, 2017-09-14, HuffPost, 2019-04-07, In 1956 Jansson met her lifelong partner, , known as "Tooti". In Helsinki they lived apart but nearby, so they could meet unnoticed, but this did not resolve the problem that Jansson's mother often came to stay.NEWS, Heti, Seila,weblink Inside Tove Jansson's Private Universe, The New Yorker, 30 March 2020, In 1956, [Jansson] met ("Tooti"), a prolific graphic artist and engraver. They would remain partners for forty-five years, until Jansson's death. But, as Westin and Svensson put it, "anyone who lived with Tove Jansson also had to live with her family". Her mother, nicknamed Ham, stayed with Jansson on and off. Even as a teenager, preparing to go away to school, Jansson had worried about her mother. In a letter from 1961, she describes the stress of managing both Tooti and Ham in their "all-female household." She felt that it had become impossible to please one without displeasing the other, and during a time of intense strife she wrote to a friend, "Sometimes I think I hate them both and it makes me feel ill"., {{efn|Same-sex marriage in Finland was legalized in 2017.}} They found a partial solution by building a house on a small island in the Gulf of Finland, and staying there for the summer.JOURNAL, Scott, Izabella, May 2018, The Party,weblink So It Goes, 11, Jansson's and Pietilä's travels and summers spent together on the Klovharu island in Pellinki have been captured on several hours of film, shot by Pietilä. Several documentaries have been made of this footage, the latest being (Haru, the lonely island) (1998)WEB, National Audiovisual Institute (Finland), National Audiovisual Institute, Haru, yksinäisten saari, 10 January 1998,weblink Finna.fi, 2 January 2024, and (Tove and Tooti in Europe) (2004).WEB, Cederström, Kanerva, Tanner, Riikka, Tove ja Tooti Euroopassa,weblink Finna.fi, 2 January 2024, The character Too-ticky, described by Sue Prideaux as "a wild-haired artistic troll in a Breton sweater and a beret", was inspired by Pietilä.NEWS, Prideaux, Sue, Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words by Boel Westin – review, 2014-01-15, The Guardian,weblink 18 November 2014, Jansson died on 27 June 2001 at the age of 86. She is buried at the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki.WEB,weblink Hietaniemen hautausmaa – merkittäviä vainajia, Hietaniemi Cemetery - significant deceased, Helsingin seurakuntayhtymä, 2016-08-26,

Cultural legacy

File:Tove Jansson at Dulwich Picture Gallery Poster.jpg|thumb|upright|The first major retrospective exhibition of Jansson's art in the United Kingdom was held at the Dulwich Picture GalleryDulwich Picture Gallery

Documentaries and exhibitions of her work

In 1968, Swedish public TV, SVT, made a documentary about Tove called Moomins and the Sea (39 min.).{{Citation |title=Mumin och havet |trans-title=Moomins and the Sea|url=https://www.oppetarkiv.se/video/2194071/mumin-och-havet |language=sv|access-date=2019-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406002509weblink |archive-date=6 April 2015 |url-status=dead }} Jansson's books, originally written in Swedish, have been translated into 45 languages.NEWS, Hällsten, Annika, Boksuccé efterlyses, Hufvudstadsbladet, 22 January 2014, 21, The Moomin Museum in Tampere displays much of Jansson's work on the Moomins.WEB, Tällainen on maailman ainoa Muumimuseo – Ensimmäiset japanilaisturistit paikalla jo tunteja ennen avajaisia, fi, This is the only Moomin Museum in the world - The first Japanese tourists arrive hours before the opening,weblink 2021-09-04, Yle Uutiset, 17 June 2017, There is a Moomin theme park named Moomin World in . In 2012, the BBC broadcast a one-hour documentary on Jansson, Moominland Tales: The Life of Tove Jansson.WEB,weblink BBC Four - Moominland Tales: The Life of Tove Jansson, BBC, A Moominvalley Park opened at Hannō, Japan in 2019.WEB, The first Moomin theme park outside Finland is simply magical – and officially open! See the full photo story from Moominvalley Park, Japan,weblink Moomin.com, 2 January 2024, 17 March 2019, In March 2014, the Ateneum Art Museum opened a major centenary exhibition showcasing Jansson's works as an artist, an illustrator, a political caricaturist and the creator of the Moomins. The exhibition drew nearly 300,000 visitors in six months.WEB, The Tove Jansson centenary exhibition attracted 293,837 visitors,weblink Ateneum, Ateneum Art Museum, 11 December 2014, 7 September 2014, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20141213013855weblink">weblink 13 December 2014, After Helsinki the exhibition embarked on a tour in Japan to visit five Japanese museums.WEB,weblink Tove Jansson 14.03.2014 – 07.09.2014, Ateneum, Ateneum Art Museum, 14 March 2014, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140320025622weblink">weblink 20 March 2014, WEB,weblink Ei vain muumien äiti – Tove Janssonilla oli taiteilijana sadat kasvot, Not just the mother of the moomins – Tove Jansson had hundreds of faces as an artist, Yle Uutiset, fi, 13 March 2014, 14 March 2014, In January 2016, a permanent Tove Jansson exhibition of murals, an oil painting, photographs and sketches opened at the Helsinki Art Museum. The two murals, Party in the Countryside and Party in the City were created for Helsinki City Hall's restaurant.WEB, Tove Jansson, Helsinki Art Museum, 29 January 2016,weblink 9 December 2023, From October 2017 to January 2018, the Dulwich Picture Gallery held an exhibition of Jansson's paintings, illustrations, and cartoons.WEB, Tove Jansson (1914-2001),weblink Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2 January 2018,weblink 7 November 2017, This was the first major retrospective exhibition of her work in the United Kingdom.NEWS, Kennedy, Maev, Moomins and more: UK show to exhibit Tove Jansson's broader work,weblink 2 February 2018, The Guardian, 22 October 2017, A biopic, titled Tove, directed by Zaida Bergroth was released in October 2020.WEB, 2019-06-18, New feature drama film about Tove Jansson to premiere in 2020,weblink 2020-06-19, Moomin.com, en-US,

Commemorations

File:Minnesmärke till Tove Jansson - Memorial plaque to Tove Jansson 01 (only).png|thumb|left|Memorial plaque to Jansson at her home in Ullanlinnankatu, HelsinkiHelsinkiJansson was selected as the main motif in the 2004 minting of a Finnish commemorative coin, the €10 Tove Jansson and Finnish Children's Culture commemorative coin. The obverse depicts a combination of her portrait and the skyline, an artist's palette, a crescent and a sailing boat. The reverse features three Moomin characters. In 2014 she was again featured on a commemorative coin, this time of €20, becoming the only person other than the former Finnish president to be granted two such coins.WEB,weblink Another collector coin is minted in honour of Tove Jansson, Mint of Finland, 30 January 2014, 14 March 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140314104906weblink">weblink 14 March 2014, dead, She was featured on a €2 commemorative coin that entered general circulation in June 2014.WEB,weblink Tove Jansson to feature on two-euro commemorative coin, Mint of Finland, 16 May 2014, 17 June 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140613151657weblink">weblink 13 June 2014, dead, Since 1988, Finland's Post has released several postage stamp sets and one postal card with Moomin motifs.Norma Suomi 2011: Postimerkkiluettelo, pp. 147, 152, 169, 180, 195, 202, 219, 233. [Stamp catalogue.] Käpylän merkki, Helsinki 2010. {{ISSN|0358-1225}} In 2014, Jansson herself was featured on a Finnish stamp set.WEB,weblink The first stamps of 2014 celebrate Tove Jansson and ancient castles, Posti Group, 16 October 2013, 14 March 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160406054748weblink">weblink 6 April 2016, dead, In 2014 the City of Helsinki honored Jansson by renaming a park near her childhood home in "Tove Jansson's Park" (, ).NEWS, Tove Jansson saa puiston Katajanokalle, Tove Jansson gets a park in Katajanokka,weblink Helsingin Sanomat, fi, 11 March 2014, 11 March 2014, NEWS, Katajanokanpuisto renamed Tove Jansson Park, Finland Times, 12 March 2014, With a new animated series, MoominvalleyWEB,weblink All-star cast for new Moomin animation series, Moominvalley, Moomin.com, 2017-09-12, broadcast in 2019, Rhianna Pratchett wrote an article about the impact Jansson had had on her father, the science fiction author Terry Pratchett; he called Jansson one of the greatest children's writers ever, and credited her writing as one of the reasons he became an author.NEWS,weblink My family and other Moomins: Rhianna Pratchett on her father's love for Tove Jansson, The Guardian, 2018-03-12, Pratchett, Rhianna, Rhianna Pratchett,

Bibliography

The Moomin books

Novels

• (1945, The Moomins and the Great Flood)
• (1946, Comet in Moominland)
• (1968; reworked edition of Comet in Moominland)
• (1948, Finn Family Moomintroll; in some editions The Happy Moomins)
• (1950, The Exploits of Moominpappa)
• (1968, The Memoirs of Moominpappa; reworked edition of The Exploits of Moominpappa)
• (1954, Moominsummer Madness)
• (1957, Moominland Midwinter)
• (1965, Moominpappa at Sea)
• (1970, Moominvalley in November)

Short story collections

• (1962, Tales from Moominvalley)

Picture books

• (1952, The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My)
• (1960, Who Will Comfort Toffle?)
• (1977, The Dangerous Journey)
• (1980, Villain in the Moominhouse)
• (1993, Songs From Moominvalley; songbook. With Lars Jansson and Erna Tauro)

Comic strips

• , Books 1–7 (1977–1981, Moomin; Books 3–7 with Lars Jansson) (Books 1–6 released in English).WEB,weblink Products by Tove Jansson, Drawn & Quarterly, 15 February 2009,

Other books

Novels

• (1972, The Summer Book)
• (1974, Sun City)
• (1982, The True Deceiver)
• (1984, The Field of Stones)
• (1989, Fair Play)

Short story collections

• (1968, Sculptor's Daughter) (semi-autobiographical)
• (1971, The Listener)
• (1978, lit. "The Doll's House and Other Stories", translated as Art in Nature)
• (1987, Travelling Light)
• (1991, Letters from Klara and Other Stories)
• (1998 compilation, Messages: Selected Stories 1971–1997)
• A Winter Book (Sort of Books, 2006). Selected and introduced by Ali Smith, from Sculptor's Daughter, Messages, The Listener, Letters from Klara, and Traveling Light.
• The Woman Who Borrowed Memories (New York Review Books, 2014). Selections from The Listener, The Doll's House, Traveling Light, Letters from Klara, and Messages. Translated by Thomas Teal and Silvester Mazzarella.

Miscellaneous

• (under the pseudonym of Vera Haij, 1933, Sara and Pelle and the Octopuses of the Water Sprite)
• (1993, Notes from an Island; autobiography; illustrated by Tuulikki Pietilä)
• (2019) (personal letters, edited by Boel Westin and Helen Svensson)

Awards

• Ducat Prize of the Finnish Art Society for young artists (1939, 1953)
• Svenska Dagbladet Prize for Finland-Swedish literature (1952)
• Nils Holgersson Plaque for The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My (1953)
• Elsa Beskow Plaque and Rudolf Koivu Prize for Moominland Midwinter (1958)
• Stockholms-Tidningen Culture Prize (1963)
• Finnish State Prize for Literature (1963)
• Anni Swan Medal for Tales from Moominvalley (1964)
• Hans Christian Andersen Award (gold medal, 1966)WEB,weblink People – Tove Jansson, thisisFINLAND, 18 November 2014, 2014-03-11,
• ''Expressen Heffaklumpen Prize (with Astrid Lindgren) (1970)
• Award for State Literature (1963, 1971 and 1982)
• Swedish Academy Finland Prize (1972)
• Order of the Smile (1975)NEWS, Tove Jansson, Hymy-ritari, REL, Helsingin Sanomat, 3 December 1976,weblink fi, 18,
• Pro Finlandia Medal (1976)
• Stiftelsen litteraturfrämjandet Large Prize (1977)
• Swedish Culture Foundation Honorary Award (1983)WEB,weblink The Fanzines of Moonin's Mother Tove Jansson - Ahrvid Engholm (Sweden), Engholm, Ahrvid, March 8, 2015, Europa SF, July 3, 2021,
• The Finnish Cultural Award (1990)
• Selma Lagerlöf Prize (1992)
• The Finland Art Prize (1993)
• Mercuri International bronze medal (1994)
• The Swedish Academy Award (1994)
• Ã…bo Akademi University Honorary Professor (1995)WEB, Jansson, Tove (1914 - 2001),weblink Kansallisbiografia.fi, 10 January 2024,
• The American-Scandinavian Foundation Honorary Cultural Award (1996)
• WSOY Literary Foundation Award (1999)
• The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame (2016)NEWS,weblink Comic-Con: 'Overjoyed' Rep. John Lewis wins 'the Oscar of comics' for his civil rights memoir (+ winners' list), Michael, Cavna, The Washington Post, July 23, 2016, March 7, 2017,

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

Further reading

• BOOK, Gravett, Paul, Tove Jansson, Thames & Hudson, 2022, The Illustrators, 978-0-500-09433-4, none,
• BOOK, Karjalainen, Tuula, Tove Jansson. Work and Love, Penguin Books, 2014, 9781846148491, none,

External links

{{Commons category}}

• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110620093034weblink">Tove Jansson at www.moomin.com {{in lang|fi|sv|en}}
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20141127174059weblink">Tove Jansson at Schildts {{in lang|fi|sv}}
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131208090850weblink">Tove Jansson and the altarpiece "Ten Virgins" {{in lang|fi|sv|en|ja}}
• Tove Jansson at WSOY {{in lang|fi}}
• thisisFINLAND: People – Tove Jansson: writer, painter and illustrator
• The Moomin Trove Comprehensive lists of Tove Jansson's Moomin books
• Tove Jansson and The Moomin Trove by Finland Travel Club
• Moominland Tales: The Life of Tove Jansson (BBC) by Eleanor Yule
• {{isfdb name|2148}}
• {{LCAuth|n79046514|Tove Jansson|91|ue}}
• Jansson, Tove (1914–2001) at National Biography of Finland
• {{BLF|1395|Tove Jansson|URN=NBN:fi:sls-4317-1416928956923}}

{{Tove Jansson}}{{The Moomin Series}}{{Hans Christian Andersen Medal}}{{Selma Lagerlöf Prize}}{{Swedish Academy Finland Prize winners}}{{Authority control}}