Victor Axel Westerholm (4 January 1860 Turku â 19 November 1919 Turku) was a Finnish landscape painter, especially known for founding the ÃÂnningeby artists' colony.
Victor Axel Westerholm was born in Turku in 1860. He was the son of Viktor Westerholm, a ship's master, and Maria Westerholm (née Andersson). As a child he spent a lot of time at the island of Nagu in the Finnish Archipelago. From 1869 to 1878 he studied at the Finnish Art Society's Drawing School in Turku, under Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1808âÂÂ1873) and Thorsten Waenerberg (1846âÂÂ1917); and as a young man he studied under Eugen Dücker (1841âÂÂ1916) in Düsseldorf from 1878-1880. Much later he studied under Jules Joseph Lefebvre(1836âÂÂ1911) at the Académie Julian in Paris from 1888-1890.
In 1888 he became a teacher at the school of the Society of Art in Turku, and in 1891 became the director of the Turku art museum.
In 1880 he first time visited àland Islands and subsequently returned there almost every summer. He often painted winter landscapes and sunsets at his summer home, "Tomtebo", bought in 1884 at the village of ÃÂnningeby in the Municipality of Jomala on àland in the Baltic Sea. A studio has also been built there. After completing his studies in Düsseldorf in 1886, he invited Fredrik Ahlstedt, Hanna Rönnberg and Elin Danielson to the newly acquired Tomtebo by the Lemström canal, thus beginning the ÃÂnningeby artists' colony (ÃÂnningebykolonin). Several artists arrived to àlands that summer. Visiting artists who spent time in ÃÂnningeby include J.A.G. Acke, Hanna Rönnberg, Elin Danielson-Gambogi, Edvard Westman and Elias Muukka. J.A.G. Acke also became his close, life-long friend. Since 1992 ÃÂnningeby-museet in ÃÂnningeby has exhibited a permanent exhibition of works by the ÃÂnningeby artistsâ colony.
Westerholm was an instructor at Turku drawing school in 1887âÂÂ1898 and 1904âÂÂ1917. In 1891, he was elected as the curator of the newly formed Art Association in Turku.
In 1885, he married Hilma Alander, whom he met at a dancing course in Turku. She was not a painter, but Victor encouraged her to take courses at the Turku Drawing School. They had three daughters and two sons. One daughter, , was born in ÃÂ lands. Westerholm lived in Turku where he died in November 1919 from a flu that turned into pneumonia.
He was calm and thoughtful personality, but also had a good sense of humour. Together with his wife they were rather hospitable hosts on ÃÂnningeby. He preferred freedom to paint, but still accepted students and provided instructions at the colony, keeping silence in case he was unsatisfied with a student's work.
A monument, dedicated to Victor Westerholm, designed by his student Wäinö Aaltonen, was envailed by Lemström Canal near his summer house Tomtebo in 1960.