Dagny Juel

Dagny Juel-Przybyszewska (8 June 1867 – 5 June 1901) was a Norwegian writer, famous for her liaisons with various prominent artists, and for the dramatic circumstances of her death. She was the model for quite a few of Edvard Munch's paintings. She had relationships with Munch and briefly with August Strindberg. In 1893, she married the Polish writer Stanisław Przybyszewski. Together they had two children. She was shot in a hotel room in Tbilisi in 1901, three days before her thirty-fourth birthday.

Dagny was born in Kongsvinger, Norway, the second of four daughters of Doctor Hans Lemmich Juell and his wife Mindy (née Blehr). As a young woman Dagny changed the spelling of her name from 'Juell' to 'Juel'. The oldest sister, Gudrun, was beautiful and self-confident; Dagny was second born; third-born was a son, Hans Lemmich, who only lived one year; then came Astrid who was something of an invalid, who remained unmarried and stayed with her mother; and finally there was Ragnhild, who was closest to Dagny, and in time became a well-known opera singer.

Dagny's early education was taken in hand by Anna Stang, who established a private school for girls in Kongsvinger, and was one of the first advocates for women's rights in Norway, and was an active force in early Feminism. Dagny started studies in 1875, and six years later completed exams for entry into middle school. For several years she studied subjects such as Nature, History, Geography, Mathematics, English, German, and Norwegian language. Her results show that she was a diligent student.

On 3 November 1882, two days after her confirmation, she left for Europe, to study music in Erfurt. In January 1890 Dagny and her sister Ragnhild moved to Oslo (then named Christiana) to continue their studies. There Dagny became involved with the bohemian life of the city. She had a brief relationship with Hjalmar Christensen in February and March. It was probably in Christiana that she started a close relationship with the painter Edvard Munch. Later, in Berlin, the two were often seen together, and judging from the nature of many of Munch's paintings picturing female figures resembling Dagny, it seems likely that the relationship was sexual; although Munch himself never made any remarks about the nature of their friendship, and there is no conclusive evidence on the matter.

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