Siri Rathsman
Illustration — Siri Rathsman. • Illustration — Siri Rathsman portrayed by Birger Simonsson. Siri Lovisa Rathsman (July 28, 1895 – July 30, 1974) was a Swedish surrealist artist, printmaker, painter, ceramicist, and journalist who spent much of her life in Paris. She was born in Sundsvall, Sweden and died in the Brännkyrka parish of Stockholm.
Also recorded as Siri Lovisa Rathsman
Siri Rathsman

Svenskt konstnärslexikon. · Public domain
- Born
- 1895. · Sundsvalls parish.
- Died
- 1974. · Brännkyrka parish.
- Nationality
- Sweden.
- Occupation
- journalist, artist and ceramicist.
- Education
- Carl Wilhelmson Art School and Valand School of Fine Arts.
- Teachers
- Birger Simonsson, Othon Friesz, Raoul Dufy and Stanley William Hayter.
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Illustration — Siri Rathsman. • Illustration — Siri Rathsman portrayed by Birger Simonsson. Siri Lovisa Rathsman (July 28, 1895 – July 30, 1974) was a Swedish surrealist artist, printmaker, painter, ceramicist, and journalist who spent much of her life in Paris. She was born in Sundsvall, Sweden and died in the Brännkyrka parish of Stockholm.
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Note VALÉORINE
Siri Rathsman (1895–1974) was a Swedish artist, ceramicist and journalist. Born in Sundsvalls parish, the artist died in Brännkyrka parish.
Siri Rathsman studied at Carl Wilhelmson Art School and Valand School of Fine Arts. The artist worked in Stockholm. Works by Siri Rathsman are held at Finnish National Gallery and Nationalmuseum.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q28840687 · wikipedia · Siri Rathsman
In this article
Early life and education
Early life and education
Siri Rathsman studied at Carl Wilhelmson Art School and Valand School of Fine Arts. Training under Birger Simonsson, Othon Friesz and Raoul Dufy is recorded. Places of work recorded in the authority are Stockholm. Work by Siri Rathsman is recorded in the collections of Nationalmuseum and Finnish National Gallery.
Siri Rathsman was the daughter of Richard Christoffer Rathsman and Kristina (Kerstin) Lovisa Jacobson. She received a formal painting from 1913 to 1915 education at the Wilhelmson painting school under the tutelage of Carl Wilhelmson where she befriended artists such as Kurt Jungstedt. She continued her studies at the Valand Academy of the Arts, which was then known as University of Gothenburg's drawing and painting school. There, she was taught by Birger Simonsson. She was trained in figurative and objective art. Her oeuvre, however, evolved to feature non-figurative art. During her twenties she moved to Paris, where she spent much of her life. At the Académie Moderne in Paris, she studied for Othon Friesz and Raoul Duffy. In 1921, she studied with Diego Rivera.
Career
Career
Rathsman was active in Paris from 1916 or 1919-1966 and worked as both an artist and journalist.
Artist
Artist
Rathsman was involved in the workshops at Atélier 17, a studio run by Stanley William Hayter. There, she worked in the graphic studio alongside other artists such as Nina Negri and Dalla Husband. Alongside Negri and Husband, she used the principles of surrealist automatism. In 1936, she signed the Dimensionist Manifesto, which was published by Charles Sirato. This manifesto encouraged artists to engage with mathematical and scientific discoveries, including Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.
Journalist
Journalist
Rathsman also worked as a journalist. She spent some time writing for the Swedish newspaper Sundsvallposten. Then, from 1921 to 1966, she worked as a correspondent for the Swedish magazine Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning; sometimes she published under the pseudonym Comtesse Belloni. The editor-in-chief in 1940 was Torgny Segerstedt. The Nazis removed Rathsman from Paris due to her being one of Segerstedt's employees. She relocated to Vichy, France, where she continued reporting. In 1943, she wrote Vichy lost the game; Descriptions from the defeated France, an account of life in Vichy during World War II. The first chapter of the book is entitled Life in the Residential City During the First Year and contains her observations of 1940, including the influx of refugees from Belgium, the Netherlands and from Nazi occupied France. She was expelled from France and returned to Sweden, where she published her account of Vichy. She returned to France around the end of the war.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Rathsman participated in group exhibitions throughout her career in many European cities, including but not limited to Stockholm, Zurich, Paris, London, and Oslo. In Paris, she exhibited alongside artists including Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy. In 1937, she was one of the artists on display at the Nordic Surrealist Exhibition at Lund University's Scania Art Museum. In 1951, the Swedish-French art gallery held a retrospective exhibition of her work. She is said to have exhibited there more than once. In 1952, she was exhibited in Gothenburg at the Lorensberg art gallery.
Personal life
Personal life
Rathsman never married. She may have been in a relationship with Georges Bidault in the 1930s. She is remembered for wearing her hair short. Her pseudonym, Comtesse Belloni, comes from the location of her studio on rue Belloni.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1895
Siri Rathsman born at Sundsvalls parish.
1974
Siri Rathsman died at Brännkyrka parish.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Sundsvalls parish.
Birth place
Brännkyrka parish.
Death place
References ==== Further reading
References ==== Further reading
*

Siri Rathsman porträtterad av Gösta Sandels, avfotograferad porträttbild från Allhems Svenskt konstnärslexikon.
Gösta Sandels · Svenskt konstnärslexikon
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Svenska: Siri Rathsman, avfotograferad porträttbild från Allhems Svenskt konstnärslexikon. 2020-05-19.
- 2.Simonsson, Birger. Svenska: Siri Rathsman avbildad av Birger Simonsson, avfotograferad porträttbild från Allhems Svenskt konstnärslexikon. 2020-05-19.
- 3.Carey, Frances. Modern Scandinavian Prints. Trustees of the British Museum. 128. 1997. 9780714126050.
- 4.Siri L Rathsman - Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon. sok.riksarkivet.se.
- 5.Collections Online British Museum. www.britishmuseum.org.
- 6.Ontdek schilder, graveur (prentmaker), graficus Siri Rathsman. rkd.nl.
- 7.Siri L Rathsman - Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon. sok.riksarkivet.se.
- 8.Fagerström, Linda. Siri Lovisa Rathsman. skbl.se.
- 9.Riksarkivet. Riksarkivet - Sök i arkiven. sok.riksarkivet.se.
- 10.Boëthius, Lena. Hanna Pauli, Siri Rathsman, Anna Sjödahl : [Göteborgs konstmuseum 1 sept-22 okt 1989. Göteborg : Museet. 13, 19. 1989.
- 11.Melin, Emmy. Siri Rathsman. Konstrevy. 27. 270. 1951.
- 12.Boëthius, Lena. Hanna Pauli, Siri Rathsman, Anna Sjödahl : Göteborgs konstmuseum. Göteborg: Museet. 1, 16. 1989.
- 13.Moser, Joann. Atelier 17: a 50th anniversary retrospective exhibition. Elvehjem Art Center. 83. 1977.
- 14.Weyl, Christina. The Women of Atelier 17: Modernist Printmaking in Mid-Century New York. Yale University Press. 36. 2019. 9780300238501.
- 15.Universidade de São Paulo. Museu de Arte Contemporânea. Atelier 17 and modern printmaking in the Americas. 2019-06-24. 978-85-94195-31-9.
- 16.Caws, Mary Ann. Manifesto: A Century of Isms. U of Nebraska Press. 536. 2001. 9780803264236.
- 17.Danchev, Alex. 100 artists' manifestos. Penguin. 291. 2011. 9780141191799.
- 18.Danchev, Alex. 100 artists' manifestos. Penguin. 292. 2011. 9780141191799.
- 19.Debyser. LA DEUXIÈME GUERRE MONDIALE: EN AFRIQUE. Cahiers d'histoire de la guerre. 2. 56–77. 1949. 1245-9151.
- 20.Rathsman, Siri Louisa. Vichy hat das Spiel verloren; Schilderungen aus dem Geschlagenen Frankreich. Europa. 1945.
- 21.Rathsman, Siri. Vichy hat das Spiel verloren, Schilderungen aus dem geschlagenen Frankreich. Europa. 7. 1945.
- 22.Kollnitz, Andrea. A Cultural History of the Avant-Garde in the Nordic Countries 1925-1950. Brill. 245. 2019. 9789004388291.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q28840687: Siri RathsmanWikimedia Foundation
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Citizenship
1- SwedenPlace
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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