The Moomins are having a moment. They are celebrating their 80th birthday and receiving plenty of love from the global media as well as being the subject of a recent exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library. They have been compared to hippopotami and fresh mozzarella cheese, but these charming characters represent the spectrum of human emotion and behavior as they navigate interpersonal relationships and the world around them.
Created by artist-author Tove Jansson, Finland’s most widely translated author, the Moomin books have been translated into more than sixty languages and have captured the hearts of Moomin fans for generations since the first book was published in 1945. Themes of collectivism, inclusion, freedom, and safety, along with Ms. Jansson’s endearing illustrations, have created a world where children can connect with their own social and emotional learning.
Born on an outhouse wall at the family summer cottage, Moomintroll was Tove Jansson’s first Moomin. Ms. Jansson and her brother would write “profound thoughts” on the outhouse walls; in attempt to respond to something her brother had written, Ms. Jansson felt that it “was so impossible to argue with that my only chance was to draw the ugliest figure I could.” Moomintroll began as an unattractive and scrawny figure that was called Snork. He gradually became chubbier and more appealing as time passed; some say that the more popular he became, the larger he grew. Moomintroll first appeared in public in 1944 on the cover of Garm magazine along with a caricature mocking Hitler.
In 1945, Tove Jansson published an illustrated novella called The Moomins and the Great Flood. The story featured Moomintrolls reuniting after having been separated by a great flood, mirroring her post-World War II environment. Themes of loss, fear, joy, adventure, and tolerance are covered and will be seen in Jansson’s future work.
Next came a short story collection, five picture books, twenty-two comic strip stories, several plays, and a libretto for an opera. Jansson also designed scenery and costumes for theater, along with promotional images.
Tove Jansson lived by her own rules, freely non-conforming and fully immersed in a world of her own creation. She was not constrained by gender roles of the times and lived her life surrounded by nature and art and her beloved partner, Tuulikki Pietilä. In a letter from 1956, a year after the couple met, Tove wrote to Tuulikki, “I feel like a garden that’s finally been watered, so my flowers can bloom.”
The Moomin character Too-Ticky was inspired by Tuulikki. Lesbianism was classified as a crime in Finland until 1971 and a mental illness until 1981; Jansson and Pietilä collaborated on art and spent twenty-eight summers on their secluded island of Klovharu in the Gulf of Finland during their nearly fifty years together. Jansson donated the cottage on Klovharu to the local heritage association in 1991; the cottage is now rented as an artist residence in the summer.
The Moomins became a global phenomenon, with Jansson’s books translated into more than sixty languages. Her work has appeared in books, comics, television series, movies and theme parks in Finland and Japan.
To learn more about Tove Jansson and her work:
Listen to "The Moomin Phenomenon," a podcast hosted by Lily Collins and Jennifer Saunders.
Read "The Legacy of Tove Jansson Lives on, 80 Years Later."
And check out these books:
Swedish, Finnish, and English titles to explore!
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