Hill, Carl Fredrik (1849-1911), artist
Driven by an endless desire to paint and draw, 24-year-old Carl Fredrik Hill moved to Paris where he pursued a productive artistic life. However, he did so with a strong, guilt-ridden father complex and sadness due to not having the time to demonstrate to his father what he was capable of. Suffering from chronic schizophrenia and spending a few years in hospital, he lived the last 28 years of his life still producing art in his childhood home in Lund.
Carl Fredrik Hill was born in Lund on May 31, 1849. His father was a professor of mathematics and strongly opposed to his son’s interest in art. He would have preferred his son to follow in his own footsteps. After CF’s graduation in 1870, his father forced him to pursue a university education in aesthetics in order that he might reconsider his plans of becoming an artist. CF viewed this time as a completely wasted year and managed to convince his father that he should study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, which he did between 1871-73. Writing to his father in May 1872 he added; “I only want to mention that through me, Sweden should have a painter, the like of whom has never previously been seen”.
The Paris Years
Despite protests from his father but with the help from his sister, CF acquired a home and studio in Paris and moved there in 1873. He painted intensively, mostly landscapes. The motives were taken from his travels around the Paris area, and he was very productive in his work. For the next four years and despite his hard work, he was unable to exhibit at the Paris Salon. In 1875 his beloved sister Anna died as did his father shortly after. He worked at an ever-increasing pace. However, his mental health continued to deteriorate (lack of recognition and his overwhelming demands for success were certainly a contributing factor) and in 1878, he was admitted to a psychiatric clinic outside Paris where paranoid schizophrenic psychosis was diagnosed. Whilst at the clinic, he continued to draw, mostly landscapes and since he had now escaped the competitive elements of public life as an artist, he was able (with his illness) to create freely.
Years of illness spent in Lund
In 1882, CF received help from his family and moved to St. Lars hospital in Lund. However, he protested strongly about the treatment he received and was discharged the following year. For the rest of his life, he was cared for (following the diagnosis of incurable insanity) by his mother and a younger sister in his childhood home. During these years he produced several thousand drawings incorporating various motifs. For a time, he was producing four drawings a day. The main body of his drawings, about 3,500 strong (of which around 2,500 were donated to Malmö Art Museum by his nephews), seem to be an expression of his illness and a form of therapy. Inspiration for his drawings often came from books and magazines as well as through his own earlier work that surrounded him at home. It is a known fact that he suffered strong auditory hallucinations that can be sensed as a driving force within his drawings.
On February 22, 1911, Carl Fredrik Hill died from complications following pneumonia and was buried in Östra Kyrkogården (Östra Cemetery) in Lund next to his father
CF also left a manuscript for a book under the pseudonym “Nagug” entitled Dikter och författarskap på några spark (Poems and authorship in a few languages) (entrusted to the University Library in Lund). The manuscript is a unique document about schizophrenia and describes the time CH spent in Paris. The manuscript has been transcribed by Lars-Håkan Svensson and is published as No. 13 in the Academy of Fine Arts’ series of publications, 2008.
The Hill Monument
Even as a schizophrenic, CF worked on his fame and sketched a monument dedicated to himself, or rather “Nagug”, the name he used as a writer. In the early 1950’s, the newly formed Lund Council Arts Committee deliberated on the idea of a memorial for Hill. The Hill family house had by this time been demolished but one last remnant of the garden remained, namely a large linden tree standing in the corner out towards Kiliansgatan. The tree became an important element in the memorial site carried out by Arne Jones. The work was entitled Fossil Composition but is more commonly known as Hill Fountain or Hill Monument.
Appreciated only after his death
Throughout his painting career, CF chased fame but despite all his ambitions up until his death he remained largely unknown to the outside world. During the healthy periods of his life, he was not particularly ambitious and worked mainly on oil paintings. His illness however, led him to becoming a master of expressive line drawing. The first exhibition of his work took place in Lund a few months after his death after which numerous exhibitions have taken place both in Sweden and abroad. Today, he is well represented at the National Museum in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Art Museum and Waldemarsudde, and particularly at Malmö Art Museum which houses an extensive Carl Fredrik Hill collection.
Text: Annika André