Johan Otto Hesselbom was a visual artist born in 1848 in Slobol in Ånimskogs parish, Dalsland. The name Otto was in reference to him being the eighth child in the family. He studied as a young man at the Evangelical Fosterland Foundation's mission school until 1880. Then he studied at the Swedish Missionary Association, and in 1882 at the Swedish Baptist Society. He was later a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm from 1888−1895 with Per Daniel Holm as his teacher.

     The following year, one of his canvases with Dalsland motifs was included in the Swedish collection at an International Exhibition in Berlin. For the Swedish audience, he appeared for the first time at the Stockholm Exhibition of 1897. Later he exhibited first with the Swedish Artists' Association and then with the artist group De Frie. In 1900 Hesselbom had an artistic breakthrough − a bronze medal at the World Exhibition in Paris where he exhibits together with the other great Swedish artists at this time Ernst Josefsson, Anders Zorn and Carl Larsson.
    He is considered one of Dalsland's foremost painters who received a number of awards and is represented in state collections in Venice, Budapest, Paris and Vienna. In 1902, one of his national romantic paintings "Vårt land, vår fosterland" was purchased by the National Museum in Stockholm. His "View of Lake Ärran" was purchased in 1910 by the Modern Gallery in Vienna.

     The artist's greatest period of production and success was between 1906−1913 where he exhibited his works at numerous international exhibitions including in Paris, Budapest, Angers, Venice, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Amsterdam, and New York.

     From 1999−2000 Dalslands Museum held a retrospective exhibition of the artist works.

     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

• The Ateneum Art Museum Helsinki

• The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm

• National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo

• Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark)

• Malmö Museum

• The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

• The Belvedere Palace in Vienna

• Vänersborgs Museum

• Värmlands Museum