Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s route to becoming Finland’s national painter took him round the world, both geographically and stylistically. Although he is best known for painting the lakes and forests of his homeland and for his pictures illustrating the Kalevala – Finland’s native epic poem – his art bears a foreign imprint.
Gallen-Kallela was born in 1865 when the Grand Duchy of Finland was part of the Russian empire. The painter himself came from a Swedish-speaking region and although he trained initially in Helsinki, his real artistic formation took place in Paris (where he also became friends with August Strindberg), while he went on to learn fresco painting in Italy, exhibit with Edvard Munch in Berlin, study print- making in London, and live and paint in both Kenya and New Mexico. Over the course of his career, his pictures show the influence of a nap hand of contemporary art movements – from realism to expressionism via symbolism and art nouveau. So when Finland gained its independence in 1917, the man who was asked to design the new nation’s flag had seen something of both the world and its art.
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