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Western Canadian artist, Matt Lindstrom was born July 20, 1889 in Helsinki, Finland to Swedish parents. Prior to immigrating to Canada in 1929, Lindstrom had been a police detective, as well as a private detective; however, he received a year of art training at an academy in Helsinki. On the ocean crossing to Canada, Lindstrom met a Norwegian traveler who suggested that he should travel out west. This prompted Lindstrom to spend $85 dollars to travel by rail to Edmonton, Alberta. He decided to stay and work as labourer at a farm because there was a good-looking woman hanging out the wash. Lindstrom made $50 on his first fall harvest, and when he got down to his last $10, he took jobs painting signs, fences, and the inside and outside of houses. Lindstrom would also take house paint and beaverboard and create paintings of farmer’s homesteads for a few dollars or a chicken dinner.
Lindstrom moved to Calgary, and 1932 and served with the Calgary Highlanders during WWII. In 1945, Lindstrom received a scholarship from the prestigious Banff School of Fine Arts (today The Banff Centre). From 1954 on, Lindstrom made a career out of creating paintings of the Foothills, the Rocky Mountains, the Prairies, and the animals that reside in these locations. The Earl of Portsmouth reproduced his oil painting, The Trek, which depicts a herd of heifers, for a book. Lindstrom was a member of the Alberta Society of Artists, as well as a lifetime member of The Calgary Sketch Club. Lindstrom passed away July 28, 1975 at the age of 86.
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