Tove Jansson Life, Art, Words

But every artist who depicts herself also depicts the times she lives in.

Cennini

she opened her suitcase and displayed her love to the world.

Tove makes room for the reader and when she came to put her theories of writing for children into words it was exactly this combination that she focused on

he illustrator can leave out pictures that might disturb the child’s imagination, but sometimes ‘lines and surfaces can say more than words’

only those who are worthy of the Contents (love) can own them.

e’s really not a troll at all, or an animal – he’s a being

he worked on the personalities of her characters, refining their characteristics and use of language.

The Hobgoblin’s Hat, published in autumn 1948, would be her first literary success,

Love had to have a language of its own that others could not understand

It also reinforces a sense of life triumphant.