Jansson, Tove

Finland-Swedish author and visual artist. Tove Jansson was born and grew up in an artist home in Helsinki. Her home environment contributed to her formation as a future artist. Her father, Viktor Jansson, was a sculptor and her mother, Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, a drawer. Her brother Lars also became an artist. Jansson began drawing early and got three pictures with accompanying verses included in a Finland-Swedish weekly magazine in 1928. After nine years at a secondary grammar school, she began art studies in 1930, first at Tekniska skolan (present-day Konstfack) in Stockholm, then in Helsinki and Paris.