Ernest Thiel

Ernest Jacques Thiel ( born August 18, 1859 in Norrköping, † January 6, 1947 in Stockholm) was a Swedish entrepreneur and art collector. His former residential building in the district of Stockholm Djurgarden now houses the Thielska galleriet.

Thiel's father was the Catholic Belgian engineer Jacques Thiel, his mother, Fanny Thiel, born Stiebel, came from a German - Jewish immigrant family. EJ Thiel served an apprenticeship as a banker in Hamburg. After his return he worked in Stockholms Enskilda Bank, the Bank of Wallenberg. 1891 Thiel founded his own bank, Stockholms credit och Diskontoförening, later renamed Aktiebolaget Stockholms Discount Bank, which he headed until 1901. Since 1884, Thiel was married to Anna Josephson, the sister of the publisher Karl Otto Bonnier. The divorce (1896-1897) and Thiel's marriage to Signe Hansen, Socialite and friend of his wife, caused a scandal.

Thiel's career as an art collector began in 1901, when he retired from business life. Thiel profiled, among others as followers of Friedrich Nietzsche, translated into Swedish texts of this and supported the Nietzsche Archive in Weimar. At the end of the 1920s he ran into financial difficulties and had his collection to the Swedish state sell.