Linderholm, Emilia

Emilia Linderholm grew up in a family of artists in Vaxholm, Sweden. Mamma Lena Linderholm is one of Sweden's most famous female artists. Father Gösta Linderholm was a popular singer, poet, and musician.

One day the opera director Thomas Jahnke moved into a neighboring house. He and his friends sang and played the piano in the garden. Emilia felt that it was where she belonged and fell in love with the opera environment. The breakthrough for Emilia's painting came in her twenties. Lena Linderholm had an exhibition, Emilia contributed some works in the Skagen style that were highly appreciated. The shift from opera to painting came a few years later in New York with the realization that "There are lots of talented opera singers who can portray a perfect Carmen. But only one who can shape and create with my expression in painting and form.”

Emilia's painting is strongly influenced by the opera. It gives a distinctive expression and perspective when she lets the women of the motifs act and portray life's different roles and emotions.