The most famous paintings by Finnish artists. Finnish artists

Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Sammon puolustus (1896)

Illustrations for Kalevala. " Sampo defense«.

Sampo(fin. Sampo) - in Karelian-Finnish mythology, a one-of-a-kind magical object that has magical powers and is a source of happiness, prosperity and abundance. In the epic Kalevala, its creator Elias Lönnrot presented Sampo in the form of a mill.

Hugo Simberg

Halla (1895)

Halla- This frost, if I understand correctly, for example in the summer at night or early in the morning

In this sense, the picture conveys the image well.

Helene Schjerfbeck

Toipilas (1888)

toipilas — convalescent

Hugo Simberg

Kuoleman puutarha —Garden of Death

There are several versions of this painting, this picture shows a fresco from the Tampere Cathedral.

One Finnish girl recommended this picture to me, when I noticed that it was somehow gloomy even for gloomy Finns, she warmly answered me: “Deaths look after human flowers in the middle of the desert, and when they are forced to cut them, they do it tenderly, as if asking for forgiveness...”

Hugo Simberg

Haavoittunut enkeli -Wounded Angel
(1903)

The plot of the film takes place against a recognizable historical background: Eleintarha Park (lit. “zoo”) and Töölö Bay in Helsinki. At the beginning of the 20th century, the park was a popular vacation spot for representatives of working professions; it also housed charitable institutions. The road along which the characters move has been preserved today: the procession moves along it towards the then existing school for blind girls and a shelter for the disabled.

The painting depicts two boys carrying an effeminate, blindfolded angel with a bleeding wing on a stretcher. One of the boys looks intently and gloomily directly at the viewer, his gaze expresses either sympathy for the wounded angel, or contempt. The background landscape is deliberately stark and spare, but gives the impression of calm. The non-trivial plot opens up space for a wide range of interpretations. The rough clothes and shoes of the boys, their frowning serious faces are contrasted with the fragile figure of an angel dressed in a light dress, which suggests the confrontation between life and death, the blood on the angel’s wing and the blindfold are a sign of the vulnerability and ephemerality of existence, but the angel holds in his hand a bouquet of snowdrops is a symbol of rebirth and recovery. Life here seems to be very close to death. One of the boys turned to the audience, breaking the hermetic space of the picture, thereby making it clear that issues of life and death were directly related to them. Simberg himself refused to give any interpretation of “The Wounded Angel,” leaving the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

The painting had a huge influence on Finnish culture. References to it are found in many works of high and popular art. The video for the song “Amaranth” by the Finnish metal band Nightwish plays on the motif of “Wounded Angel”.

Albert Edelfelt

Pariisin Luxembourgin puistossa — In the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Akka ja kissa — Old woman and cat

In general, all of Gallen-Kallela’s paintings are masterpieces; he is truly a world-class artist.

This picture was painted in a distinctly naturalistic manner, but, despite all its unadornedness, it is full of compassion and love for the simplest and poorest people.

The painting was acquired by the Turku Art Museum in 1895 and is still located there.

Word akka I always have difficulty translating both “baba” and “grandmother”.

Here I will show a little taste and add one more picture Helene Schjerfbeck— in Russian we read her name Helena Schjerfbeck.

And here is a ray of light and warmth.

Painting from 1882, Tanssiaiskengät —Dancing shoes.

This is probably the saddest Finnish picture. At least in my opinion.

Albert Edelfelt

Lapsen ruumissaatto — Child's funeral(literally: Funeral procession of a child)

This is the first genre composition in Finnish fine art painted outdoors. She became, as it were, a fragment of genuine life, seen and captured by the artist. The picture tells about human grief. Edelfelt depicted a simple family carrying a small coffin on a boat. The harsh landscape matches the mood of people seeing off their child on his last journey. In their mournful faces and restrained movements there is a solemn sadness, which is echoed by the white motionless surface of the lake, the bright cold sky, and the distant low shores.

“The Funeral of a Child” brought him the title of academician, and the work was purchased for a private collection in Moscow. At the same time, a personal exhibition was organized in Tsarskoye Selo, and Edelfelt was introduced to Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna, who was also interested in painting.

The artist's proximity to the court helped the popularity of Finnish painting in Russia. We can say that Edelfelt was one of those who discovered Finnish art for Russia.

In 1907 the painting returned to Finland and is now in the Ateneum Museum, Helsinki.

Also, on my own behalf, I would like to note that this picture very accurately conveys the Finnish attitude towards death (which, alas, is a part, the last part, of any life). It is very strict and restrained, here too there is a difference from the Russians. But this severity and restraint does not mean they are emotionless; Finns simply carry all this deep within themselves. Deeper than us Russians. But grief does not cease to be grief for them either.

Pekka Halonen

Tienraivaajia Karjalassa — Road builders in Karelia.

Literally it would be “road clearers in Karelia.”

raivata- good verb: clear the way
I don't know if it has anything in common with the word raivo — rage, frenzy

But looking at this picture, we can assume that yes.

There is another feature of the Finns in the picture - historically they had to live in an extremely unfavorable natural environment, that is, sometimes they simply fought fiercely for their existence, hence, probably, this perseverance that they show in work and adversity. At least that's how it used to be.

Hugo Simberg

Another painting by Hugo Simberg - “ Dream«.

Simberg is rightfully considered a symbolist; his paintings are extremely open to interpretations.

And at the same time, there is always something very national in his paintings.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Poika ja varis — Boy and crow.

(1884) Personally, by the way, I only learned when I was quite old that crow (varis), relatively speaking, not a wife/female crow (korppi). As a matter of fact, such confusion occurs, fortunately, only in the Russian language. For example, in Ukrainian a raven is “kruk”, and a crow is “crow”. In English, the word for raven is “raven”, and a crow is called “crow”.

The painting is now in the Athenaeum.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela.

Lemminkäisen äiti — Lemminkäinen's mother.
(1897)

The painting is in the Athenaeum, Helsinki.

The painting describes a scene from the Kalevala in which Lemminkäinen was killed and dismembered, and his body parts thrown into the dark river, Tuonela. The hero's mother collected parts of her son's body with a rake and sewed them into one whole. In the painting, she is waiting for a bee - so she looks up - who will bring magical honey from the senior god Ukko, who is supposed to resurrect Lemminkäinen.

Hugo Simberg
Haavoittunut enkeli - Wounded Angel
(1903)
The plot of the film takes place against a recognizable historical background: Eleintarha Park (lit. “zoo”) and Töölö Bay in Helsinki. At the beginning of the 20th century, the park was a popular vacation spot for representatives of working professions; it also housed charitable institutions. The road along which the characters move has been preserved today: the procession moves along it towards the then existing school for blind girls and a shelter for the disabled.
The painting depicts two boys carrying an effeminate, blindfolded angel with a bleeding wing on a stretcher. One of the boys looks intently and gloomily directly at the viewer, his gaze expresses either sympathy for the wounded angel, or contempt. The background landscape is deliberately stark and spare, but gives the impression of calm. The non-trivial plot opens up space for a wide range of interpretations. The rough clothes and shoes of the boys, their frowning serious faces are contrasted with the fragile figure of an angel dressed in a light dress, which suggests the confrontation between life and death, the blood on the angel’s wing and the blindfold are a sign of the vulnerability and ephemerality of existence, but the angel holds in his hand a bouquet of snowdrops is a symbol of rebirth and recovery. Life here seems to be very close to death. One of the boys turned to the audience, breaking the hermetic space of the picture, thereby making it clear that issues of life and death were directly related to them. Simberg himself refused to give any interpretation of “The Wounded Angel,” leaving the viewer to draw their own conclusions.
The painting had a huge influence on Finnish culture. References to it are found in many works of high and popular art. The video for the song “Amaranth” by the Finnish metal band Nightwish plays on the motif of “Wounded Angel”.

2.


Albert Edelfelt
Pariisin Luxembourgin puistossa - In the Luxembourg Gardens of Paris.
(1887)

3.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela
Akka ja kissa - Grandma and cat
(1885)
In general, all of Gallen-Kallela’s paintings are masterpieces; he is truly a world-class artist.
This picture was painted in a distinctly naturalistic manner, but, despite all its unadornedness, it is full of compassion and love for the simplest and poorest people.
The painting was acquired by the Turku Art Museum in 1895 and is still located there.
I always have difficulty translating the word akka - both “woman” and “grandmother”.

4.

Here I will show a little taste and add another picture of Helene Schjerfbeck - in Russian we read her name Helena Schjerfbeck.
There are also more famous paintings by Finnish authors, but sometimes they are too gloomy.
And here is a ray of light and warmth.
Painting from 1882, Tanssiaiskengät - Dancing shoes.

A portrait of the nephews of Alexander III, painted by one of the most famous Finnish artists Albert Edelfelt and considered lost in Finland, unexpectedly turned up in the art museum of the city of Rybinsk.

Finnish art critic Sani Kontula-Webb, who has been studying Finnish-Russian artistic connections for more than 10 years, found the painting by chance on the Internet, on the website of the Rybinsk Museum-Reserve, but under a different name. A query with the name of the artist, entered into a search engine in Cyrillic, probably for the hundredth time, suddenly gave an unexpected result - the researcher’s eye was caught on an image that had not been seen before, but seemed very familiar.

“In Finland, the painting was considered missing. I also did not come across information about its whereabouts in Russian sources. Reproductions of it had never been printed anywhere before. But the Athenaeum houses sketches made by Edelfelt, and I had a rough idea of ​​what the portrait should look like,” she said "Fontanke.fi" Sani Kontula-Webb.

Photo: Sani Kontula-Webb
Sani Kontula-Webb is writing a dissertation on the influence of the Academy on the art of Finland during the period of its autonomy (from 1809 to 1917).

We are talking about a portrait of two nephews of Emperor Alexander III - Boris and Kirill, the sons of his brother, Prince Vladimir. Edelfelt's work entitled "Children" is kept in the Rybinsk Museum; the technical passport of the painting, compiled back in the 80s, says that it depicts girls - the children are dressed in dresses, and their hair is long and curly, in accordance with fashion those times. But the description is outdated.

Photo: Sani Kontula-Webb
The painting “Children” depicts the nephews of Emperor Alexander III, the sons of Prince Vladimir Alexandrovich Kirill and Boris.
The portrait was painted in 1881 by order of Prince Vladimir, who headed the Academy of Arts, and was initially kept in his palace in Tsarskoe Selo. What happened after the revolution remained unknown to Finnish art historians. According to the technical passport, it entered the storage facility of the Rybinsk Museum in 1921.

Photo: Sani Kontula-Webb
The inventory number on the back of the painting indicates that it was kept in the palace of Prince Vladimir.
The cost of the painting has not been estimated. At the Bukovskis auction, works by Albert Edelfelt were sold for amounts ranging from 18 to 120 thousand euros.

“Albert Edelfelt is for Finland what Repin is for Russia,” says Kontula-Webb. “He is a national, beloved and revered artist who has had a brilliant career, his paintings were exhibited at the Academy of Arts, he was offered a professorship.” It was the portrait of the children of Prince Vladimir that opened the way for the artist to become the favorites of the Russian imperial court. After this, Edelfelt was introduced to the wife of Emperor Alexander III, Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar), and she ordered him portraits of her children, Xenia and Mikhail. Then Nicholas II personally posed for the artist, which was considered a great sign of respect - official portraits were usually copied either from an existing one or from a photograph.

The Rybinsk Museum reacted favorably to the Finns’ idea of ​​organizing an exhibition, but first the painting has to be restored.

When asked by Fontanka.fi whether there is a chance to discover any other missing works by the Finnish painter, Sani Kontula-Webb answered with doubt and hope. According to her, there was a chamber portrait of Nicholas II, which was intended for his wife Alexandra. It depicts the emperor in a robe in a homely setting: “If, of course, it has survived to this day after the revolution...”

Albert Gustav Aristides Edelfelt (Swedish: Albert Gustaf Aristides Edelfelt, 1854-1905) - Finnish painter and graphic artist of Swedish origin. He painted historical and everyday subjects, portraits, and landscapes. He worked in monumental painting. Used pastel and watercolor techniques. Some of his works are kept in the Hermitage.

Finnish artist Berndt Lindholm (1841-1914).

Berndt Adolf Lindholm Berndt Adolf Lindholm, (Loviisa 20 August 1841 – 15 May 1914 in Gothenburg, Sweden) was a Finnish artist, is also considered one of the first Finnish impressionists. Lindholmwas also the first Scandinavian artist to go to Paris to study. PHe received his first drawing lessons in Porvoo from the artist Johan Knutson, and then transferred to the Finnish Art Society drawing school in Turku. In 1856-1861. he is a student of Ekman.V1863-1865 Lindholm continued his studies abroad at the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts.He left Germany and, together with ( Hjalmar Munsterhelm) Magnus Hjalmar Munsterhjelm (1840-1905)(Tulos October 19, 1840 - April 2, 1905) returned to his homeland in Karlsruhe (1865-1866), where he began taking private lessons fromHans Fredrik Gude (1825-1903)and then visited Paris twice in 1873-1874, where his teacher was Leon Bonnat. In Francecommunicated closely with the Barbizonian Charles-François Daubigny.He also appreciated the work of Théodore Rousseau, and admired the work of Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot.The first solo exhibition was held in Helsinki in the autumn of 1870, where Lindholm received high praise. In 1873, the Academy of Arts gave the title of academician for the painting “Forest in the Province of Savolas” and others.,in 1876 he was awarded a medal from the Philadelphia World's Fair; in 1877 he was awarded the Finnish State Prize. Lindholmlived mostly abroad. In 1876 he moved to Gothenburg and worked as a museum curator (1878-1900). He also taught at the Gothenburg School of Drawing and Painting, then was elected President of the Academy of Fine Arts and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy.He was more versatile than his artist friend and rival Magnus Hjalmar Munsterhelm, who remained faithful to the romantic landscape all his life.Initially, Lindholm also painted typical romantic landscapes, and then, under the influence of French plein air painting, he gradually became close to realism. Towards the end of his career he switched only to coastal and seascapes. It is also known that Lindholm participated in the illustration of the book by Zacharias Topelius - (Zacharias Topelius, 1818-1898) - one of the most remarkable representatives of Finnish literature. A poet, novelist, storyteller, historian and publicist, he earned love and recognition both in his homeland and far beyond its borders. Topelius wrote in Swedish, although he was also fluent in Finnish. Topelius's works have been translated into more than twenty languages. He had an unusually multifaceted talent and amazing capacity for work; the complete collection of his works contains thirty-four volumes. (Z. Topelius. Travels around Finland. Edition by F. Tilgman, 1875. Translated from Swede. F. Heuren. Contains many engravings from original paintings by A. von Becker, A. Edelfelt, R. V. Ekman, V. Holmberg, K.E. Janson, O. Kleine, I. Knutson, B. Lindholm, G. Munsterhelm and B. Reingold). Lindholm's 10 illustrations are dedicated to the Imatra Falls. In Finland, the artist's works from the period of his stay in France have not been fully appreciated; almost all of them are in private collections.

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Rocks illuminated by the sun.

Edge of a pine forest.

Forest landscape with the figure of a woodcutter.

River flowing through rocky terrain

Oat harvest.

Coastline

Winter landscape in the moonlight

View from the shore.

Boats on the pier

Stacks.

Landscape with birch trees

Seascape.

Seascape.

View of the rocks.

Yearning

Sunlight in forest.

View of Ladoga.

Fishermen in the morning fog

Ships on the horizon.

Montmarte, Paris.

From the island of Porvoo

Cows in the pasture