Finland · 100th birthday of Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson belonged to Finland’s Swedish-speaking minority and wrote her literary works in Swedish. She grew up in Helsinki in an artistic family: her father Viktor Jansson was a sculptor, her mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson an illustrator and graphic artist. Tove Jansson herself trained as a visual artist and initially worked primarily as a painter, draughtswoman and illustrator. In addition to book illustrations, she created, among other things, political caricatures and murals.

She became particularly well known for the Moomins, a family of troll-like imaginary creatures. The first Moomin book was published in 1945. In the books and picture books that followed, Jansson developed Moominvalley into its own literary world. The child-friendly adventures often address themes such as loneliness, fear, freedom, family solidarity and dealing with change. Jansson drew her characters herself and also contributed to their dissemination as a comic. Numerous adaptations for theatre, television and other media were created later.

Her work was not limited to children’s literature. She also published novels and short stories for adults, including *The Summer Book* (Das Sommerbuch). In this and other texts, she explored interpersonal relationships, life on islands and the relationship between humans and nature. She spent many summers with her life partner, the graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä, on a small island in the Gulf of Finland.

For Finland, Jansson embodies both the country’s Swedish-language literature and its visual arts. Her characters spread beyond Finland, while her books remained closely connected to the Finnish coastal and island landscape. The anniversary year therefore provided a national occasion not only to honour the creator of the Moomins, but also to recognise her versatile work as a writer, painter, illustrator and comic artist on a circulating coin.