Tove Jansson

More than two weeks ago, I presented Tove Jansson to my classmates and teacher. This was one of the assignments one must complete in the Swedish komvux: a 10-minute presentation about a Swedish author (Sva grund 3 muntlig presentationen). While this is usually the last assignment one attempts in class, I decided to plunge right into the deep end because no. 1) I love reading, and no. 2) I love playing with PowerPoint.

I love Tove Jansson. There is so much to talk about her! But what can I tell my audience in just 10 minutes? At the end of it, I think I have successfully changed people’s perception of her from being just the Mother of Moomin to much, MUCH more.

Below is a gallery of the presentation I prepared, but it is not the whole presentation. This is an extract. Right at the bottom of this post is a clip of Tove’s niece, Sophia Jansson, reading from the Swedish edition of Sommarboken. Enjoy!

What does one talk about when one talks about Tove Jansson?

The Moomins, of course!

But Tove is more than just Moomin...

She is all these:

Art | Writing | Love & Relationship | Summer and Island Life

A very productive journey

I prepared this slide with her entire författarskap starting from her first book, her Moomin books and comic series, and her grown-up books. I removed the details, but yes, I hope to visualize how much Tove had achieved in 65 years right before she passed away.

The Summer Book

This is one of the two books (or works) that I talked about in my presentation: SOMMARBOKEN (English: The Summer Book).

The Summer Book

Here, I saw a great opportunity to use a Venn diagram. It’s such a beautiful, moving story that unlocks the heart with humor, adventure, and philosophy. I highly recommend this wonderful book.

"I've fallen madly in love with a woman..."

This is another reason I found Tove Jansson to be very interesting. She had relationships with both men and women, but it was the latter that impacted her most.

One of Tove's frescoes: "Party in the City"

Party in the City (Photo: Helsinki Art Museum, Maija Toivanen)

I felt that my presentation would not be complete without mentioning this. I briefly analyzed the wall painting (painted by Tove) and what it meant to her. Viveca Bandler, one of Tove’s most immense love, has a significant meaning in this.

Tuulikki "Tooti" Pietilä: Tove's Life Partner

I was emotional when I prepared this section. I admit I cried. The relationship she had with Tooti is so, so beautiful. Since the 1950s, Tooti has been Tove Jansson’s life partner. She was also the model for Tove’s character Too-ticki. They were together for more than 40 years until Tove's death.

Some of Tove Jansson's Art

Here’s a small collection of her self-portraits, of Tooti her love, her family, something abstract…

Here’s the clip I have prepared from the YouTube video where Sophia Jansson reads from the book Sommarboken, which I embedded into my presentation in class. (Side note: We also had a lesson on dialects the week before, so I thought this was an excellent opportunity to also listen to the Finland Swedish dialect!)