Taidetta, tarinoita, journalismia

Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Ad Astra ja Kuollut Lemminkäinen. Villa Gyllenberg Kuusisaaressa on sopuisa yhdistelmä menneen maailman eleganssia, porvariskotia, tyylihuonekaluja, upeaa taidetta ja luonnonkauneutta. Huvilan olemassaolosta saa kiittää pankkiiri Ane Gyllenbergin kaksotyttäriä Margaretaa ja Mariannea , jotka hiihtoretkellään löysivät kauniin paikan ja ehdottivat, että sinne rakennetaan perheen kakkoskoti tai kesähuvila. Perhe kiintyi paikkaan niin että vuonna 1938 valmistuneesta huvilasta tuli perheen ympärivuotinen koti. Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Probleemi. Seinät täyttyivät taiteesta, kun kuvataiteesta kiinnostunut  Ane Gyllenberg ja hänen vaimonsa Signe keräsivät taidetta. He keräsivät kokoelman, jossa on kotimaista taidetta 1700-luvulta 1970-luvun lopulle ja vanhempaa eurooppalaista taidetta. Gyllenbergit hankkivat muiden muassa Albert Edelfeltiä ja Akseli Gallen - Kallelaa sekä muita Suomen kultakauden mestareita. Erityisesti heitä viehätti Helene Schj...

Karelian house, Bomba, Nurmes. Photos: Sirpa Pääkkönen Finland will celebrate its 100th birthday. Finland got independence 6 th December 1917. From late 12 th century Finland was an integral part of Sweden. In 1809 Finland was incorporated into the Russia Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. Following the 1917 Russian revolution Finland declared itself independent. Archipelago. So we’ll get a big celebration. What do foreigners usually know about Finland? We have thousands of lakes. In Lapland the sun will shine all night long in the summer, but in wintertime the darkness covers the country. If you are lucky you can see northern lights and they are amazing. Reindeer you’ll meet very likely and the Santa Clause in Lapland. That’s why children from all over the world love to travel to Lapland. You can also learn something about Finland by looking statistics from T he Statistics Center of Finland , Statistics Finland. Let’s see what we can find out. F...

Girl on red Sofa, 1882 My mother, 1902. Something to be proud of: We Finns have our art history, painters and artist especially from the Golden Age and the beginning of the 20 th century.   And there is one female artist who created a special career. I never heard anybody saying she/he wouldn’t like her. She is Helene Schjerbeck (1862-1946). Now at Turku Art Museum there is a very good exhibition of her art and her career that lasted 70 years. We can see how her style changed from realistic and historical paintings   to modernism. She was a forerunner at the way to more defined expression . She painted sensitive portraits from people near her and created also deeply compelling self-portraits. In her portraits a young and strong woman changes to an old and fragile woman. She was very gifted and started the Drawing school in Helsinki already at the age of eleven. She travelled to Paris to continue her studies at the age of 18. Young Schjerbeck was...