When the world tunes in every October to see the latest Nobel Prize winners, the first images that greet audiences are not photographs but striking gold-and-black portraits. Behind these instantly recognisable illustrations is Niklas Elmehed, a Stockholm-based visual artist and Art Director at Nobel Media AB. Known for combining classical portraiture with modern illustration, Elmehed has been creating the official portraits of laureates since 2012, turning the announcement of the world’s most prestigious awards into a visual spectacle. Working under strict confidentiality, he completes each hand-painted portrait within hours of learning the winners’ names, ensuring the images reach a global audience almost instantly.
Niklas Elmehed’s journey to the Nobel laureates illustrations
Elmehed studied fine arts in Sweden and brings extensive experience in digital and print design. His work spans journalism, history, and fine art, capturing the achievements of leading scientists, writers, and peace advocates in a single, iconic image. As Art Director at Nobel Media AB, he oversees all visual content for Nobel announcements, blending precision, storytelling, and aesthetic appeal to create portraits that convey both dignity and immediacy.Before Elmehed, Nobel laureate announcements often relied on low-quality photographs sourced from institutional websites. He introduced hand-painted portraits with black outlines on a white background, accentuated by shimmering gold foil. This design, formalised during the Nobel Prize’s 2017 graphical rebranding, adds a timeless quality and a sense of prestige, symbolising the legacy of the Nobel tradition while giving each laureate a unique visual identity.
Behind the scenes
Secrecy is a key part of Elmehed’s process. He is among the very few outside the Nobel committees to learn winners’ names in advance. Working under tight deadlines, he paints rapidly without compromising detail or quality. His portraits are completed just in time for the announcements, allowing media outlets worldwide to immediately share the iconic images alongside the news.In 2025, Elmehed unveiled “The Golden Wall”, exhibiting all Nobel portraits of the year at Nobel headquarters in Stockholm. This year’s portraits, including Medicine laureates Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi, were shared across official Nobel social media platforms. Beyond the Nobel Prize, Elmehed has showcased his work internationally, from TEDxPatras 2025, where he discussed the storytelling power of faces, to a live painting performance at the Nordic Pavilion of World Expo 2025 in Osaka.For Elmehed, each portrait is more than art; it is a form of visual storytelling. He aims to produce works that reflect the immediacy of breaking news while immortalising laureates with elegance and clarity. His goal is to give each portrait a strong and unique visual impression, capturing the world’s foremost minds in a style that is instantly recognisable and timeless.
