Personal information about the painter Gregor von Bochmann

Google translations: deutsch - eesti - (note : with absolute links)

Ancestors - here is an overview of the ancetors of the painter since 1686

The painter's life

Gregor von Bochmann was born in the manor Nehatu June 1st, 1850 (a new building with apartments was constructed in 1960, see photo). His father was forest revisor for the russian government. In 1856 he received the manor Taebla (east of Hapsalu - see old photo) as gift for his merits as officer in the Crimea war. This is where Gregor spent his childhood and adolescence. He went to school at Haapsalu Kreiskool (see photo) until, at the age of 9, he moved to the Governorate Gymnasium in Tallinn (today's Gustav Adolf Gymnasium), where his art teacher, Theodor Albert Sprengel (see Documentation), noticed his talent. Sprengel was instrumental in providing him a scholarship to study at the Academy of Arts in Düsseldorf, where he moved in 1868.

Adolescence - text written by the daughter of the painter, Helene von Bochmann.

His life and family

Old photos from Estonia and the Dutch coast (from around 1900) - see Some old documents

Estonia - today

• An excursion to Nehatu, the birthplace of the painter, in 1999 - text and photos by Gregor v. Bochmann.
• Estonia's manors
• Essay about Gregor von Bochmann - by Kaidi Lõo, written under the theme "People in Estonia of german speaking culture - today and in the past", Humanistisches Gymnasium Õismäe, Tallinn (Estland), 11. Klasse, 2005.
• Bochmann exhibition at the RIOS Gallery in Tallinn, July 2006 - with many photos when I was visiting with my wife, Elise - local copy
• News from the Kullamaa Parish Museum, Kullamaa 90701 (close to Nehatu Manor), Estonia:
  • In 2015, a cultural event and exhibition was organized at the museum in honor of the painter with a contribution by art historian Anne Untera, director of the graphics department of the Estonian Art Museum.
  • In 2020, the 170th bitrthday of the painter was remembered with an entry in the blog of the museum including the following text: - Kullamaa Parish Museum announces! - This year, 2020, on June first, we remember the 170th birthday of Gregor Alexander Bochmann, professor of the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts, born in the Nehatu Manor in Lääne County. Gregor's father, Carl Jacob Alexander, was a forest reporter for the Estonian governor's estate. A few years after Gregor's birth, Taebla was established. This is where the future artist's childhood and youth years passed, most of which he spent traveling around Läänemaa with his father. Gregor graduated from Haapsalu Kreiskool and Tallinn Governorate Gymnasium (today's Gustav Adolf Gymnasium). A scholarship of the Estonian Literature Association allowed him to study in Dûsseldorf where he attended professor Oswald Achenbach's landscape painting class and then founded his own studio in Düsseldorf. Gregor Bochmann's creations have received very high appreciation, crowned by the nomination to the Berlin Academy of Artists and the professor title of the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts. In 1899 he was awarded a noble title by the german Kaiser. The artist passed away on February 2, 1930 in his summer home near Düsseldorf. Ants Laikmaa writes in his memories: "The famous professor of Düsseldorf painting, Bochmann, whose parent's house is still in Taebla, has created a lot of pictures of both nature and the lives of the Estonian people, which are currently filling the walls of several famous foreign galleries. I recently saw the print of one of these works in the Cross People's Sunday Newspaper, depicting life near the church of Ridala during Sunday worship. Bochmann is a little-known artist in our country because he lives and works abroad, but he is one of our painters who has depicted Estonian nature and life with his brush ".