Born in Hedemark, Norway, Einar Dahl immigrated to the United States in 1902. He found work as a harness maker and shoe salesman. After Dahl came to the Twin Cities in 1907, he eventually found a home in Robbinsdale at 3900 Beard Ave N, and then at 4250 France Ave N. Dahl was active in the community. He helped organize Minnesota competitive ski jumping and the Twin Cities Ski Club.
It Must Be Spring! Anyway Einar Dahl, Minnesota artist, took the weatherman at his word yesterday. After the snow melted off his “studio,” he scattered straw over the ground and then moved his easel out-of-doors and went to work. Gazing off into space at the dryads and nymphs, he’s working on a pastoral. His specialty is street scenes of Minneapolis, where he lived more than 20 years before recently moving to Robbinsdale. His studio, located in Crystal Lake near Robbinsdale, is a reconstructed milk wagon he intends to mount on wheels so that he may tow it behind his car to any scene he wishes to paint. During 1938, he lived with his wife in a trailer, during which time he made the wagon into a serviceable studio, “because we didn’t have an attic, you know.” He has exhibited at Walker Art gallery three times, is a member of the Minnesota Arts Council’s board of trustees, and at, present has approximately eight oil paintings and 70 sketches at 81 Ninth Street S. Most of them are Minneapolis scenes. His studio will be equipped with bookcases, easels and a variety of modern conveniences when he gets it mounted. Already it has a stove, which he is using.
–Minneapolis Star-Journal April 2, 1940
Dahl’s education as an artist was limited to informal assistance from Minnesota painters Otto Moilan, Carl Erickson, and Knute Heldner. He began exhibiting in local galleries in the 1920s. In 1940 the American Art Today Gallery bought one of Dahl’s landscapes for a showing at the New York World’s Fair. He received his first cash award at the Minnesota State Fair in 1941.
Dahl’s work was exhibited at the United American Artists show, Rockefeller Plaza, New York; Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland California; and local one-man shows at the Rainbow Gallery, Minneapolis, and the American Swedish Institute in the 1950s. Dahl was on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Artists Association. He busied himself with the promotion of the Walker Art Center and served on its Board of Trustees. The Minneapolis Star added him to their list of Town Toppers in 1953 for his work as an artist and Twin Cities arts advocate.
“Einar Dahl, a Robbinsdale artist, is convinced his greatest fame may come after his death. He just has to make sure his works reach appreciative hands and not wind up in secondhand stores. Then they will become collector’s items ‘There is no doubt about it if they get into the right channels.’ said Dahl, who for three years has been teaching landscaping and still life painting to classes organized partially under the sponsorship of a Robbinsdale hobby shop. Dahl, 79, has turned out some 2,000 paintings, drawings and silkscreens since his childhood. He has abstract French impressionist and realistic canvases hanging in the living room of his small maroon cottage at 4250 France Avenue North. Here since his wife died two years ago he has set in a rocking chair piled high with cushions to watch television and paint both at the same time.”
–Minneapolis Star April 11, 1963
Dahl’s work is found in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, University of Minnesota, Minnesota Historical Society, and Hennepin History Museum.
In 1939 Dahl created this series of Robbinsdale scenes in watercolor. Some folks may remember seeing them in the basement Community Room of the Robbinsdale Public Safety Building, where they were displayed for many years. Take a walking tour through his paintings: Begin at the library and it’s easy to imagine strolling through town with Einar and his easel.
