Jenny Nyström – the illustrator of tomtar, Christmas cards, and the Swedish Christmas tradition

Jenny Nyström (1854–1946) is the artist who gave the Swedish Santa his face – the small, gray-bearded figure in a red cap who carries Christmas presents through the snow, drives sleighs pulled by pigs, and sometimes even flies airplanes. For almost seventy years, she painted Christmas cards, book illustrations, and magazine covers, and according to Kalmar County Museum, she created between 6,000 and 7,000 tomtes during her lifetime. Yet she began as one of the Academy of Fine Arts’ most promising history painters and, in 1881, became the first woman in Sweden to receive the academy’s royal medal for history painting. Today, her art is as much a fixture in Swedish homes in December as gingerbread and Advent candleholders, and as a poster or framed print, her visual world lives on long after the age of Christmas cards has passed.

This page covers the whole story: her childhood in Kalmar and Gothenburg, her years at the academy in Stockholm, her stay in Paris at the Académie Colarossi, her marriage to the ailing medical student Daniel Stoopendaal, and the enormous body of work that supported her family for over forty years. We explain how she transformed the old folk image of the farmstead tomte into a gift-giver, which works can be found at the Nationalmuseum and Kalmar County Museum, and how to use her motifs in your interior design – from a child’s room to a living room at Christmastime. To discover more artists and movements, find them all in Bozetto’s Knowledge Bank.

Contents
↓ Who was Jenny Nyström?
↓ Life and biography: from Kalmar to Tegnérgatan
↓ Most important works and motifs
↓ Technique and artistic signature
↓ Legacy: how the Swedish Santa got his look
↓ Jenny Nyström at home – interior design guide
↓ Timeline
↓ Related artists
↓ Frequently asked questions about Jenny Nyström

Who was Jenny Nyström?

Jenny Eugenia Nyström, née Nyström-Stoopendaal, was a Swedish painter and illustrator, born on June 13, 1854, in Kalmar and died on January 17, 1946, in Stockholm. She is considered Sweden’s first professional children’s book illustrator and one of the country’s most prolific postcard artists of all time. In its major 2018 exhibition, Sven-Harry’s Art Museum in Stockholm called her both “Illustrator and Pioneer” and “the mother of the Swedish Santa,” and it is Santa who made her immortal. But the image of a kindly Christmas-card painter is too narrow: she was an academically trained artist who mastered large-format oil painting, exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1884 and 1885, and ran her own art business for decades, with contracts with several of the country’s largest publishers.

Fast facts: Born June 13, 1854, in Kalmar · Died January 17, 1946, in Stockholm · Education: Gothenburg Museum School of Drawing and Painting, Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm 1873–1881, Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian in Paris from 1882 · Royal medal for history painting in 1881 for Gustav Vasa as a Child before King Hans · Married Daniel Stoopendaal (1853–1927) in 1887 · Son: artist Curt Nyström Stoopendaal (1893–1965) · Estimated 6,000–7,000 painted tomten · Contract with Axel Eliasson’s Art Publishing House in 1911 · Represented at the Nationalmuseum and Kalmar County Museum · Buried at Norra begravningsplatsen in Solna

What makes Jenny Nyström unique in Swedish art history is the combination of academic training and popular appeal. While contemporary colleagues such as Carl Larsson reached Swedish homes through books such as A Home, Jenny reached them through the mail—millions of Christmas cards sent between relatives, kept in boxes, and pasted into albums. In this way, her images became a shared visual reference for several generations of Swedes, often without the recipients even knowing who had painted them.

Life and biography: from Kalmar to Tegnérgatan

Childhood in Kalmar and the move to Gothenburg

Jenny was the third of five children born to cantor and elementary school teacher Daniel Nyström (1820–1908) and Annette Eleonora, née Bergendahl (1823–1887). The family lived on Norra vägen in Kalmar, where her father was cantor at Kalmar Castle Church. In 1863, the family moved to Majorna in Gothenburg, and at just eleven years old, Jenny began taking lessons at the Gothenburg Museum School of Drawing and Painting—the institution now known as Valand Academy of Fine Arts. According to the Swedish Women’s Biographical Dictionary, it was her teacher Fredrik Wohlfart who first inspired her to draw tomten.

The turning point came in 1871. While seventeen-year-old Jenny sat copying paintings at the Gothenburg Art Museum, she was discovered by County Governor Albert Ehrensvärd, who became her patron. From April 1, 1874, he paid her 100 kronor a month, and wholesaler James Dickson also contributed to her studies. Ehrensvärd’s support took her to Stockholm and the country’s most prestigious art school.

The Academy of Fine Arts and the medal in 1881

In August 1873, Jenny Nyström was admitted to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, where she studied for eight years. Women had only been admitted to the academy in 1864, and female students were taught in a separate department. From 1877, she received annual scholarships, while also working as an illustrator for Ny Illustrerad Tidning to supplement her income. In 1881, she won first place in the academy’s annual competition for the royal medal with the historical painting Gustav Vasa as a Child Before King Hans. Because she was a woman, she had to share the prize with a male fellow student, Richard Hall, but she was still the first woman in Sweden to be awarded the medal for historical painting. Her future husband, Daniel Stoopendaal, modeled for King Hans.

Paris 1882–1886

The medal earned her the academy’s travel grant, and in November 1882 she traveled to Paris. The École des Beaux-Arts was closed to women, so she enrolled at the private academies Colarossi and Julian, where many Nordic women artists trained during the 1880s. She was accepted into the Paris Salon with Self-Portrait and From My Studio in Paris in 1884, and with Old Woman in Creuse in 1885. Here she also discovered the thriving French postcard market—an insight that would shape the rest of her career. She tried to persuade Bonniers to invest in postcards in Sweden, but the publishing house declined.

Marriage, responsibility, and her own movement

After becoming engaged in the autumn of 1884, Jenny Nyström married medical student Daniel Stoopendaal in 1887 at Adolf Fredrik Church. He suffered from tuberculosis, never completed his studies, and was unable to work as a doctor. This meant that Jenny supported the family alone, while Daniel managed the business affairs. In the autumn of 1887, the couple moved to a large apartment on Tegnérgatan in Stockholm, where she set up her studio, and in 1889 her widowed father moved in as well. Their son Curt was born in 1893. The financial pressure explains much of her enormous output: academic painting brought prestige, but Christmas cards put food on the table. In 1911, she signed a contract with Axel Eliassons Konstförlag for a fixed number of watercolors per month, and for many years her images were also distributed by Strålin & Persson in Falun.

Daniel died in 1927, but Jenny kept painting until the very end. She died at her home in Stockholm on January 17, 1946, aged 91. The housekeeper Karin Johansdotter, who had followed the family from Gothenburg, described her death as “like blowing out a candle.” She rests at Norra Cemetery beside her husband and father.

Most Important Works and Motifs

Jenny Nyström's work ranges from large academic-style oil paintings to small watercolors intended for printing in postcard format. This makes her difficult to sum up in a single masterpiece – instead, it is the whole body of work, and above all the Christmas gnomes, that define her. Here are the works and groups of motifs that are most important to know.

Little Viggs's Adventures on Christmas Eve (1871)

The starting point for the Swedish Father Christmas was a story by Viktor Rydberg. Little Viggs's Adventures on Christmas Eve was published in the Christmas issue of Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning in 1871, and seventeen-year-old Jenny created eight illustrations for the text. Through the newspaper's editor-in-chief, the drawings reached both Rydberg and the Bonniers publishing house, which let them lie. She asked to have them returned, and according to the Swedish Biographical Dictionary of Women, the story was subsequently published in book form by Hedlund's publishing house in Gothenburg in 1875. Rydberg was delighted with the pictures, and the collaboration marked the beginning of a lifelong relationship with the Christmas gnome motif. It was in these illustrations that the gnome first began to take shape as Christmas's own figure.

Gustav Vasa as a Child Before King Hans (1881)

The medal-winning painting from the Academy of Fine Arts is described by the Kalmar County Museum as perhaps her best-known work outside the world of Christmas cards. The subject depicts the young Gustav Eriksson (Vasa) before King Hans of the Kalmar Union – a typical national historical subject in the spirit of the 19th century, portraying a pivotal scene from Swedish history with theatrical lighting and meticulous study of costume. That a woman won the competition in 1881 was a sensation, and the work shows that she had mastered the most prestigious genre in the academic hierarchy.

The Convalescent and the Paris Years (1884)

During her Paris years, she painted in a naturalistic style reminiscent of her contemporary Nordic colleagues in France. The Convalescent from 1884, an oil painting on canvas measuring 154 × 115 cm, is now part of the Nationalmuseum collection in Stockholm. The watercolor Promenade in Paris was also created that year, a sheet measuring 29 × 16.5 cm that the Nationalmuseum acquired in 2019 (inventory number NMH 1/2019) along with three other works by Swedish women artists active in France during the 1880s, thanks to a donation from Ann Stern. The works reveal a completely different side of Jenny Nyström from the one she became known for – a modern city dweller and an ambitious salon painter.

"That I mostly drew for children is probably because I have always loved children" – Jenny Nyström in the autobiographical text “A Girl from Kalmar,” Saga Children’s Library, 1910

Christmas cards and tomtes

It is the Christmas cards that made Jenny Nyström a household name. From the 1880s onward, she painted thousands of motifs: tomtes carrying Christmas presents through the snow, feeding the horse in the stable, eating porridge, and getting help with the packages from Yule goats, pigs, elephants, and giraffes. She also kept up with the times—her cards show tomtes in cars, trains, and airplanes, and their clothes ranged from peasant dress to city fashions. The Kalmar County Museum highlights that it was Jenny Nyström who introduced the idea that the tomte, rather than the Yule goat, brings the Christmas presents. She was also among the first to paint cards for holidays other than Christmas and Easter, such as New Year’s, name days, and birthdays.

The children, The Two of Us, and family portraits

Alongside the tomtes, children are her most prominent subject. Rosy-cheeked girls with snowballs, boys with Christmas trees, and children playing on a spring hillside were popular on cards and book covers. Her son Curt, often dressed in a kolt and red cap, appears in many of the images. In 1895, she painted a double portrait of herself and Curt, originally titled Mother and Son but known today as The Two of Us. She also illustrated adult literature with Old Norse themes, including Albert Ulrik Bååth’s Old Norse Tales (1886), as well as the anthology The Nursery Book (1903).

Technique and artistic signature

Jenny Nyström’s style is instantly recognizable, but it rests on a solid academic foundation. Eight years of anatomy, figure studies, and copying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts gave her a sure hand that is evident even in the smallest postcard.

Watercolor and gouache for printing

Most Christmas card motifs were painted in watercolor, often enhanced with opaque white (gouache) for snow, light reflections, and details. The technique suited lithographic and later photomechanical printing: clear areas of color, distinct outlines, and a limited palette dominated by red, green, brown, and white. The contract with Axel Eliasson’s Art Publishing House in 1911 required a set number of watercolors each month, which explains her efficient, almost industrial working method. At the same time, she could still paint large oil canvases, such as The Convalescent, measuring 154 × 115 cm.

Photography as a sketchbook

During summers on Tjockö in the Stockholm archipelago, she photographed people who would later model the figures in her illustrations. Today, Kalmar County Museum cares for photographs from her private collection, which she bequeathed to the county museum. The photographs show how she worked: the children’s poses, the folds of their clothes, and the way the light fell were studied in photographs before being translated into watercolor. It was a working method she shared with several contemporary painters, but one rarely associated with Christmas card art.

The Tomte’s Visual Language

Her tomte has a distinct visual vocabulary: a small, compact body, a gray or white beard, a red pointed cap, a gray or brown homespun coat, and wooden clogs or birch-bark shoes. His face is kind and often a little mischievous, never frightening. The figure is rooted in the farm spirit of agrarian society, but has transformed from a fickle guardian into a kind and generous Christmas figure. The backgrounds are sparse - a snowy farmyard, a stable wall, or a starry sky - so the tomte always remains at the center.

The Signature and Her Son Curt

Jenny signed her cards “Jenny Nyström,” and her son Curt Nyström Stoopendaal (1893–1965), who also became a popular postcard and poster artist, chose a similar signature, “Curt Nyström,” and a style close to his mother’s. Daniels’s brother, the painter Georg Stoopendaal (1866–1953), also made Christmas cards clearly inspired by her. For collectors, this means the signature must be read carefully - a “Nyström” card from the 1930s could just as easily be Curt’s as Jenny’s.

Legacy: How the Swedish Santa Claus Got His Look

It is hard to overstate Jenny Nyström’s importance to Swedish Christmas. According to the English-language Wikipedia, she created the Swedish image of Santa Claus on countless Christmas cards and magazine covers, thereby bringing together the international Santa Claus with the tomte figures that had been part of Scandinavian folklore for centuries.

From Farm Spirit to Christmas Gift-Bringer

In the old agrarian society, the tomte was a farm spirit who watched over animals and people, but could punish anyone who neglected the farm or forgot the Christmas porridge. For a long time, Christmas gifts were delivered by the Yule Goat. In the second half of the 19th century, several traditions merged: Viktor Rydberg’s stories, Clement Clarke Moore’s American A Visit from St. Nicholas, and German Christmas card culture. Jenny Nyström gave the new figure a face. Her tomte is still small and lives on the farm, but he is kind, brings Christmas gifts, and celebrates Christmas with the children. That image lives on in Christmas cards, decorations, and advertising to this day.

Influence on Swedish Illustration

As Sweden’s first professional children’s book illustrator, she paved the way for the generations that followed. Both Elsa Beskow and John Bauer worked in a market she had helped build, and gnomes, trolls and woodland spirits became central motifs in the visual world of Swedish National Romanticism. Her business model – fixed publishing contracts, motifs adapted for print, a recognizable signature – also foreshadowed the modern illustration industry. More broadly, she belongs in the story of how posters and print democratized images around the turn of the 20th century.

Museums and exhibitions in Sweden

The largest collection of her work is in her birthplace. Kalmar County Museum has a special exhibition about Jenny Nyström with a seven-part audio guide, and the museum has published several books about her, including Gunnel Forsberg Warringer’s Jenny Nyström – Female Artist (1992) and the English edition Jenny Nyström Artist (2004). Barbro Johnsson’s walking-tour book Walk in Jenny Nyström’s Kalmar was published in a revised edition in 2012. Nationalmuseum in Stockholm owns works including The Convalescent and A Stroll in Paris, and Nationalmuseum’s collection database lists her as a painter and illustrator. The most recent major Stockholm exhibition was Jenny Nyström – Illustrator and Pioneer at Sven-Harry’s Art Museum from October 26, 2018 to February 17, 2019, with around 100 works spanning her academy years to her final illustrations. Those who want to learn more can read the article in the Swedish Women’s Biographical Dictionary, the most detailed biography online, or listen to Kalmar County Museum’s guide.

Jenny Nyström at home – an interior design guide

Jenny Nyström’s pictures were made to live in people’s homes. They were printed to be sent, saved and displayed, which is why they work so well as posters or framed prints. Here are a few ways to use her visual world – and motifs in the same spirit – in your interior. At Bozetto, you’ll find a wide selection of illustration posters and Swedish art that complement her style.

The children’s room, all year round

Her children’s motifs – girls on a spring hillside, boys playing in the snow – work well long after December. Choose one or two prints in 30 × 40 or 40 × 50 cm and hang them at the child’s eye level, about 100–120 cm from the floor to the center of the picture. Pair them with other classic fairy-tale illustrators from our prints for children collection, such as Elsa Beskow or John Bauer, to give the room a cohesive Nordic fairy-tale feel.

The living room at Christmas

A framed Christmas gnome print is a more sustainable alternative to plastic decorations. Replace an existing picture in the hallway or above a dresser with a Christmas print from the first Sunday of Advent through St. Knut’s Day on January 13, then save it for next year. If you want to get started early, read our guide to Novent and prints that last from November through St. Knut’s Day. In Christmas trends for 2026, we show how nostalgic Christmas prints replace wall decorations. A framed nostalgic print also makes a much-appreciated gift – see our buying guide to prints as Christmas gifts.

Tip: Jenny Nyström’s warm reds and snowy whites look best in a light oak or dark-stained wood frame with a 4–5 cm white mat. Avoid shiny metal frames, which make the nostalgic motifs feel cold. If you hang several Christmas prints together, use the same frame color and leave 5–8 cm between them for a calm, cohesive look.

Mix with classic Swedish art

Jenny Nyström is part of the same tradition as Carl Larsson, Elsa Beskow, and Ivar Arosenius – watercolor-based, narrative, and rooted in everyday life. That’s why her work pairs well with other famous artists from Sweden’s turn-of-the-century era. Place a Christmas gnome picture on a shelf next to a Carl Larsson interior or a Zorn landscape, and Christmas art becomes part of the rest of the year’s collection.

Timeline

1854 – June 13: Jenny Eugenia Nyström is born in Kalmar.

1863 – The family moves to Majorna in Gothenburg.

1865 – Begins studying at the Gothenburg School of Arts and Crafts at the age of eleven.

1871 – Illustrates Viktor Rydberg’s Little Vigg’s Adventures on Christmas Eve; discovered by County Governor Albert Ehrensvärd.

1873 – Is admitted to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm in August.

1875 – Lille Viggs äventyr på julafton is published in book form by Hedlund’s publishing house.

1881 – Wins the Royal Medal for history painting with Gustav Vasa som barn inför kung Hans.

1882 – Travels to Paris in November and studies at Colarossi and Julian.

1884 – Exhibits at the Paris Salon; paints Konvalescenten and Promenad i Paris.

1887 – Marries Daniel Stoopendaal and moves to Tegnérgatan in Stockholm.

1893 – Her son Curt is born.

1895 – Paints the double portrait Vi två with her son.

1911 – Signs a contract with Axel Eliasson’s Art Publishing House for monthly watercolors.

1927 – Daniel Stoopendaal dies.

1946 – January 17: Jenny Nyström dies in Stockholm, aged 91.

2018 – Sven-Harry’s Art Museum exhibits around 100 works from October 26, 2018, to February 17, 2019.

2019 – Nationalmuseum acquires the watercolor Promenad i Paris.

Related artists

Jenny Nyström belongs to the Swedish tradition of illustration and fairy tales. You may also like to explore John Bauer, whose troll forests brought fairy-tale themes into the 20th century; Elsa Beskow, who continued in her footsteps as a professional female illustrator; and Carl Larsson, who shared her fondness for watercolors and family life. Ivar Arosenius and his Kattresan show the same warmth in the form of a children’s book, and for the broader context, we recommend our overview of Nordic art. You’ll find all our fact pages about artists and movements together in the Knowledge Bank.

Frequently asked questions about Jenny Nyström

Want to bring the Nordic storytelling tradition into your home? Explore our illustration posters and children’s prints – and let Jenny Nyström’s spirit of warmth, snow, and Christmas anticipation stay with you long after the tree has been taken out.