30 - Painting and graphic arts
YOUNG CULTURE I went for a walk in the Museum of Modern Art in Turku and looked for information about the history of art in Finland. It is important to know that Finnish culture is relatively young. It is still developing intensely. Between the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, artistic creation crystallized around the cult of national identity. It was still necessary to get rid of the Swedish traditions conveyed by an omnipresent Swedish-speaking elite. The painters were therefore inspired by the Finnish regions of expression, such as Karelia, the cradle of the Kalevala. NATIONAL ROMANTICISM National Romanticism, the Nordic counterpart of Art Nouveau, found its most brilliant spokesman in the painter Aleksis Gallèn-Kallela (1865-1931), who drew the essence of his work from the Kalevala. Writers and composers alike find inspiration in the Karelian forests to uncover their authentic Finnish roots. The large canvases of Gallèn-Kallel