Henrik Ibsen
20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright often called the father of modern drama, whose realist plays such as A Doll's House, Ghosts and Hedda Gabler confronted the social conventions of his time. He spent 27 years writing abroad in Italy and Germany before returning to Norway in 1891, and remains one of the most performed dramatists in the world.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Henrik Ibsen.
- Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) Overlapped 78 years →
- Clara Barton (1821–1912) Overlapped 78 years →
- Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) Overlapped 78 years →
- Lord Kelvin (1824–1907) Overlapped 78 years →
- Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) Overlapped 78 years →
- Joseph Lister (1827–1912) Overlapped 78 years →
Life events
Henrik Johan Ibsen was born in the port town of Skien to merchant Knud Ibsen, whose financial ruin in Henrik's childhood marked the family deeply.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAt fifteen Ibsen moved to Grimstad to apprentice as an apothecary's assistant, writing his first play, Catiline, there in 1849.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIn 1851 Ibsen was hired by Det norske Theater in Bergen as writer and stage manager, gaining practical theatrical experience over six years.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIbsen married Suzannah Thoresen in 1858; their only child, Sigurd Ibsen, later became a Norwegian prime minister's-office statesman and writer.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIn 1864 Ibsen went into self-imposed exile in Italy and later Germany, where he wrote most of his major works over the next 27 years.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBrand (1866) and Peer Gynt (1867), written in Italy, brought Ibsen fame and financial security in Scandinavia.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgA Doll's House, whose heroine Nora walks out on her marriage in the final scene, premiered in Copenhagen in December 1879 and provoked fierce debate across Europe.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIbsen followed A Doll's House with the scandal-provoking Ghosts (1881) and An Enemy of the People (1882), consolidating his reputation as Europe's leading realist dramatist.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHedda Gabler appeared in 1890, and in 1891 Ibsen returned from abroad to settle permanently in Kristiania (Oslo).
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter a series of strokes beginning in 1900, Ibsen died at his home in Kristiania at age 78 and was given a state funeral.
Source: en.wikipedia.org