The Official Stories Behind the 1952 Moomin Paintings
Tove Jansson made 3 paintings for the defuncted company Fรถrlags-AB Lindstrรถm & Co (later recredited to Nordiska Kompaniet instead). They were commonly called "Barnkammartavlor" or "The Nursery Paintings". At the production folders, they were titled "ยปTove Janssons barntavlor i mรฅngfรคrgstryckยซ" ["Tove Jansson's children's painting in multicolor printing"].
They were commonly sold at bookstores around Helsinki in 1952. They were later often sold at Stockman and reused as other form of merch like paper pins and jigsaw puzzles.
Tove Jansson was not pleased with the quality of the printing and preferred the original ones. She wrote an English note that reads: "ยปMade in Finland. The print bad. I own the originals which are much better. To be had in Sweden.ยซ". I can't find the original paintings however. The printing quality are indeed different but you can see that they are printed during close up.
It's common for Tove Jansson to write notes and stories to her paintings. The auction sites for these 3 paintings wrote down these stories that was found in production folders. Strangely, the collector's guide Skatter frรฅn Mumindalen 2024 don't include the stories that Tove Jansson wrote for these paintings that was attached to their folders.
Den hemliga รถn
[The Secret Island]
Original Swedish:
โFullmรฅnen stiger รถver skogssjรถn. Lรคngst in bland skuggorna ligger den hemliga รถn dit Mumintrollet rott med sina vรคnner fรถr att fira en nattlig fest. Smรฅdjur och sรคllsamma varelser kikar nyfiket fram, lockade av det vรคnliga ljuset frรฅn fotogenlampan och doften av Snusmumrikens plรคttar.
Ugglan hoar pรฅ tรคlttaket och bland blommorna i grรคset stรฅr den underbara kakan som Mymlan bakat med lilla My.
Och inne i skogen รคr det nรฅgon som spelar pรฅ luta."
My English translation:
โThe full moon rises over the forest-lake. Furthest in amongst the shadows is the secret island there Mumintrollet rowed with his friends to celebrate a nightly party. Small animals and strange creatures peeks curiously out, attracted by the friendly/gentle light from the kerosene lamp and the smell of Snusmumrikenโs pancakes.
The owl hoots on the tent roof and thereโs a cake amongst the flowers on the grass that Mymlan baked with little My.
And inside the forest thereโs someone who plays on a flute.
It's unknown who of Mumintrollet's parents it is on these images as at that point Muminpappan and Muminmamman looks totally identical. It could be Muminpappan consider that the only indication of one of them being Muminmamman is her handy handbag however none of them carry it even when the whole family is together at the bridge painting. They never mentions which are which in these paintings but it's very likely the smaller one is Mumintrollet.
You can notice that Snusmumrikenโs [Snufkinโs] appearance is in his early design with larger eyes, darker nose, small mouth and no pipe. In illustrations for Kometen kommer (the 2nd book), almost every image of him has been redrawn to look less like a silly, goofy and generic Christmas elf and more like a cool confident dude. He started to look closer to his more general designs in 1954 with Farlig sommar (5th book) and the satirical adult-oriented Muminserien (the comic strips).
Karusellfest [Carousel Party]
Original Swedish:
โรver รคngen tassar den skrattande katten och mรถter muminfamiljen, Snusmumriken, Mymlan och Sniff vid vรคgskรคlet. De ska allihopa รฅka karusell, fรถr det รคr festdag. Borgen pรฅ kullen har alla vimplar i topp fรถr รถver bron sprรคnger riddaren pรฅ hemvรคg till sin prinsessa. Under ensittarens torn spelar vattenfallet och alla รคr ute fรถr att roa sig i Lyckliga Dalen.
Pรฅ sluttningen ligger Pappa och lรคser sรถndagstidningen och ur skogen kommer Hjortmamman fรถrsiktigt ut med sin lilla dotter.
Mitt i sagovรคrlden drรถmmer pojken som fick vara med om det otroliga dรคrfรถr att han trodde pรฅ det.โ
My English translation:
โOver the meadow sneaks/walks the laughing cat and meet the Mumin family, Snusmumriken, Mymlan and Sniff at the crossroad. They all will ride the carousel, because itโs festival day.
At the castle at the hill have all pennants on the top over the bridge goes off on the way home to his/her princess. Under the hermitโs tower plays the waterfall and everyone is outside to enjoy oneself at the Happy/Joyful Valley.
The father lies on the slope reading the Sunday newspaper and the deer mother is cautiously coming out from the forest with her little daughter. In the middle of the fairy tale world dreams the boy who was able to experience the incredible because he believed in it.
This was one very unusual design of Sniff who looks like an oversized version of Sofu's [Shadow's] cousin from early comic strip arcs.
Again, we never knew which one is Muminmamman and Muminpappan as this painting just call the two Mumintrolls as the "Mumin family" even if it's just one parent.
Mymlan [Mymble] also seems to make more appearance than Lilla My at this time in other merch. Here sheโs in her final recognizable independent humanlike form from the first picture book โHur gick det sen? Boken om Mymlan, Mumintrollet och Lilla Myโ 1952 (which Tove Jansson also called "boken om Mymlan" [The book about Mymlan]). I would consider earlier bizarre appearances of Mymlor being prototypes or different individuals considering fundamentally different behaviors and designs (antenna-like โhearing-sproutsโ, tails and Mรฅrranโs like limbs!) that Tove Jansson didnโt even try to correct despite doing so to other characters to stay consistent to their recent designs. You can read more about Mymlorna's evolution HERE.
Regnbรฅgshuset
[The Rainbow House]
Original Swedish
โUppe i den blommande kastanjen bygger muminfamiljen sitt hus. De har valt en รคventyrlig plats dรคr de kan titta ut รถver skogar och stรคder, dรคr hรคngbroar vajar รถver stupen och det eldsprutande berget sรคnder sina flammor mot sommarhimlen. Rakt upp mot solen flyger ballongen, fรฅglarna dyker genom lรถvverket, Mymlan stickar pรฅ sin รคndlรถsa strumpa och Snusmumriken drรถmmer om upptรคcktsfรคrder bortom regnbรฅgen.
Och Sniff bรคr sej som vanligt illa รฅt och stjรคlper ut hela spiklรฅdan i grรคset.โ
My English translation:
โUp on the blooming chestnut (tree) the Mumin family build their house. They have picked an adventurous place where they can look out over the forests and cities/towns, where suspension bridges wave over the cliff and the fire-breathing mountain sends its flames against the summer-sky. Straight up to the sun flew the balloon, birds flew over foliage, Mymlan knits on her endless sock and Snusmumriken dreams about expeditions beyond the rainbow.
And Sniff misbehaves as usual and knock out the whole nail box into the grass.โ
Here, Sniff's more common early design is back. I have already almost finished a post about Sniff's character design where he's far more commonly being depicted as grey in early depictions. His ears here are identical to the early books' designs. He commonly had an elongated prehensive tufted tail in early books (except Trollkarlens hatt 1948, the 3rd book) and early comic strip arcs.
And please letโs not talk about yellow dresses on Mymlor, they gave me adult trauma over something I donโt want to get into yet!
This calendar don't seems to have a written story I have found. It's estimated to be from 1957. Here you see a lot of oddities that break away from the standard designs, likely for stylization resons.
Also, I think this image have influenced that godawful 1969 anime, especially one extremely rare merch I just found and waiting for arrival where one really crude design of Snusmumriken [Snufkin] looks exactly like the one on this painting! Also I got one really crudely ugly manga adaptation of that infamous gun episode as well!
At the background above the moon, you will see a couple on a cloud and if you closely you will see it's a cameo of Tove Jansson with Tooticki! Tooticki had always been used as Tuulikki Pietilรค's private avatar one year before Trollvinter 1957 (6th book) and continued be her private avatar, signature figure and favorite character throughout rest of their life together.
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