Tor Bjurström was born in Stockholm in 1888 to Per Gustaf Bjurström and Gustava Matilda Johanna Johansson. His father Per Gustaf was a wholesaler. Bjurström studied at the Swedish Artists Asscoaition school in the period 1905-07 under Richard Bergh and Karl Nordström in Stockholm, and then with Kristian Zahrtmann in Copenhagen in 1907-08. Following this Bjurström followed his contemporaries to Paris where he stayed from 1908-14, studying under Matisse,[1] before leaving for Norway and Denmark during the First World War. His teachers and influences also included Van Dongen, and Othon Friesz.[2][3]
From 1927 onward Bjurström was active as a teacher of the Valands painting school in Gothenburg, where he was also a curator of an art gallery from 1936 onwards. In 1940 Bjurström joined the State Art Council as a deputy.[2] In 1961 Tor Bjurström received the Swedish Prins Eugen medal.[4] A lecture hall at Sahlgrenska Academy is named after him.[5]
Bjurström was a leading member of the "Göteborgskolorisrer" ("Göteborg colourists").[6]
