Gallen-Kallela
Kalevala myths in forest colours.
Finnish National Gallery — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Finnish National Gallery — CC BY 2.0 · Ninara — CC BY 2.0 · Simo Rista — CC BY 4.0
Finland's folk epic, compiled from rural songs in the nineteenth century and the foundation of national identity; Gallen-Kallela's paintings of it in the Ateneum are its most famous depiction.
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Finland's largest classical art collection: the Ateneum, opposite Central Station in a palace of 1887, holds the Golden Age of Finnish art — Akseli Gallen-Kallela's paintings of the national epic Kalevala, Eero Järnefelt's forests and lakes, Helene Schjerfbeck's "The Convalescent", Albert Edelfelt's women on the shore — the works that built Finnish identity before independence. The rooms run chronologically from the nineteenth century to the 1950s, with a small international wing holding Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cézanne, and major temporary shows that draw queues. The building itself, with its sculpted facade and tall halls, is among the finest in the centre. For anyone wanting to understand Finland in one museum this is it: ninety minutes, then coffee in its café.
Kalevala myths in forest colours.
Schjerfbeck — Finland's most famous painting.
Street in Auvers in the international wing.
Kaivokatu 2, Helsinki