Ernest Thiel
Ernest Thiel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Error: Invalid birth date for calculating age Norrköping, Sweden |
| Died | January 6, 1947 (aged 87) Stockholm, Sweden |
| Occupation(s) | Financier, art enthusiast, translator |
| Known for | Founding the Thiel Gallery |
Ernest Jacques Thiel (18 August 1859 – 6 January 1947) was a prominent Swedish financier and art enthusiast. His former residence, located in Stockholm's Djurgården park, currently serves as the site of the Thiel Gallery ().
Biography
Thiel was born in Norrköping to Jacques Thiel, a Belgian engineer, and Fanny Stiebel, who was of German-Jewish heritage. After completing his education in Stockholm, he pursued commercial training at a merchant firm in Hamburg and gained experience in banking before returning to Stockholm in 1877. There, he joined Stockholms Enskilda Bank, which was under the ownership of the Wallenberg family.
By 1884, Thiel had taken charge of the Stockholm branch of Hernösands enskilda bank. In 1891, having amassed adequate funds, he established his own financial institution, Stockholms Kredit- och Diskontoförening (later known as Aktiebolaget Stockholms diskontobank), where he served as director until 1901. That same year, he wed Anna Josephson, a member of a distinguished Jewish family linked to the publisher Karl Otto Bonnier.
His marriage ended in divorce between 1896 and 1897 when he remarried Signe Maria Hansen, a widow with literary and artistic interests who had formerly been Anna’s companion. This event caused considerable controversy. The couple eventually separated around 1910–11; Signe relocated to Öland and passed away in 1915.
The deflationary period from 1920 to 1922 drastically diminished the value of Thiel’s stock holdings and overall wealth, compelling him to address substantial debts and sell his estate in 1924. Later in life, he translated works by Friedrich Nietzsche into Swedish and published his memoirs in 1946. Thiel passed away in Stockholm in 1947.
Thiel Gallery
Thiel’s serious engagement with art collecting commenced in 1901 when he purchased artworks valued at 19,000 crowns during an exhibition held by the Konstnärsförbundet. In 1902, he acquired nineteen paintings by Bruno Liljefors. As his collection expanded beyond the capacity of his apartment on Strandvägen, he commissioned architect Ferdinand Boberg in 1904 to design a spacious villa at Blockhusudden within Djurgården.
The rapid growth of his collection led to the addition of a large gallery room designed by Boberg in 1905. Inspired by Prince Eugen’s combined home and gallery at nearby Waldemarsudde, Thiel initially encountered resistance from the Prince concerning the location of his villa. However, acceptance into Sweden’s artistic circles was affirmed when Prince Eugen presented him with the painting Nattmolnet in 1906.
Other sources
- Linde, Ulf, Thielska Galleriet. Stockholm, 1979. [catalogue of collections]. Contains a biographical introduction titled "Ernest Thiels galleri" (pp. 7–18) and Thiel's autobiographical reflections "Några smärre erinringar" ("A few small recollections") (pp. 19–24).
- Forssberg, Lars Ragnar (2015) Ernest Thiel : pengar & passion (Stockholm: Leopard)