Who painted portraits of Nobel Prize winners?

Every October, after the Nobel Prize winners are announced, the world gets to see iconic portraits.

These are portraits of Nobel laureates drawn with bold black lines, accented with brilliant yellow details.

Niklas Elmehed and portraits of the 2024 Nobel Prize winners in economics - (Photo: Niklas Elmehed).

The main author is Niklas Elmehed - the official portrait artist for Nobel laureates - since 2012.

As one of the few people who has early access to the list of laureates before it becomes public, Elmehed is tasked with creating the first official image of each laureate, a tradition that has continued for more than a decade.

Where did this partnership begin?

According to the Dhaka Tribune , the cause started with a shortage of high-quality photos of winners in the science field.

When Elmehed was first hired as art director of Nobel Media, the communications department for the Nobel Prize, he often struggled to find images that could be used for announcements about the prestigious award.

So Elmehed's initial black marker sketches in 2012 quickly made such a big impression that many major media outlets used them to announce the winners.

The characteristic yellow color used by Niklas Elmehed in portrait painting - (Photo: Niklas Elmehed).

By 2017, Elmehed took his work to the next level. Nobel Media introduced yellow as the primary color for announcements, and from there, Elmehed experimented with different types of yellow paint.

In the end, he chose to use gold leaf, a thin metal sheet that is glued to the piece with a special glue.

The combination of gold leaf and bold black strokes creates a powerful and unique visual impact – an image that has now become synonymous with the Nobel Prize.

While Elmehed's work with Nobel Media is perhaps his most widely known contribution, it is only one part of Elmehed's artistic career.

Iconic Tradition

When he's not drawing portraits of award winners, Elmehed spends his time working on other creative projects, including motion graphics for clients like the Swedish national soccer team.

Niklas Elmehed and portraits of scientists who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - (Photo: Niklas Elmehed).

Despite his close contact with some of the world's most brilliant scholars, Elmehed reveals on his website that he has never received direct feedback from Nobel laureates about their portraits.

He joked that the reason was probably due to the busyness and overwhelming attention that the winners faced immediately after the announcement, leaving little time for them to reflect on their official portraits.

Meanwhile, the public received his work enthusiastically, with Elmehed's portraits becoming an integral part of the Nobel tradition.

What started as a practical solution to a logistical problem has grown into an iconic annual tradition. Elmehed's portraits are more than just depictions of the winners, they are a tribute to their achievements.