Nandor Mikola

When I ask my Finnish friends who would be the person in Finnish watercolor world worthy of writing about, they always say the name of Nandor Mikola. I have tryed to find some information though it was not much said in the i-net about the artist.

This article is a tribute to Nandor Mikola (1911 – 2006), great Finnish watercolorist, born in Hungary. He was the only painter in Finland having his museum during his lifetime. Nandor Mikola is a honorary member of Finish Watercolor society.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Mikola started studying lithography at the Budapest University for Art and Design in 1928. At the same time he studied painting at the Budapest Free Art Academy under the guidance of Guyla Rudnai. He graduated as a lithographer in 1932 and participated for the first time in a public exhibition at the Obuda district culture house in Budapest, where he displayed his watercolour paintings. That year he worked as a lithographer in Budapest but continued studies atGraphic Institute of Vienna, Austria the same year.

In 1935 Mikola arrived in Helsinki, Finlandto help his Hungarian artist friend Josef Miklos to decorate a restaurant called Hungaria. He started studying graphics at the Art Industrial Central-school in Helsinki under the guidance of Germund Paaer, and in 1938 the firm Lassila & Tikanija in Vaasa employed him as a drawer of commercials (he later became the company's director of PR).

Mikola, who rather painted with his heart than his mind, found most of his inspiration in the colors and forms of nature, in the rhythm of the landscape and in light and shade. His works can be seen as representations of personal experiences. The mood is always in focus.

Most of the works shown here had been painted in 1980s - 2000, the size is 100 x 75 cm.