Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who grew up in Tyrvää, Finland, knew at an early age that he wanted to become a painter. But his father, a respected lawyer and police chief, prevented it for the time being and sent him to Helsinki to grammar school at the age of eleven. Three years later his father died and the now 14-year-old took drawing courses at the Finnish Art Society and received private lessons from Adolf von Becker, a painter and art teacher. Akseli's real name was Axel Waldemar Gallén. He was born in Pori, Finland in 1865 into a Swedish-speaking family. As he thought his name did not sound Finnish enough, he later changed it to Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Like so many young artists, he was drawn to Paris, where he studied painting at the Académie Julian. During this time he met several Scandinavian artists, including the Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt and AAugust Strindberg, one of the world's foremost playwrights. Gallen-Kallela was fascinated by the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland and one of the most important literary works. He decided to illustrate this epic.
When he married Mary Slöör in 1890, their honeymoon took them to East Karelia. There he began to collect material for the Kalevala. This creative phase is marked by the influences of the mythological tales of the Kalevala and is evident in romantic depictions of heroes and lovely landscape paintings. In 1894 Gallen-Kallela travelled to Berlin to organise a joint exhibition with the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Four months later this trip came to an abrupt end. In a telegram he was informed of the death of his daughter Impi Marjatta. She died of diphtheria. This tragic event left deep scars, which would be reflected in his future works. His paintings became more violent and darker. One of his most famous works, "The Defence of Sampo", dates from this period. Together with his wife he travelled to London and Florence. For the 1900 World's Fair in Paris, he painted frescoes for the Finnish pavilion, securing his reputation as a Finnish artist.
He moved to Paris with his family in 1908, but fled an almost hostile atmosphere to Nairobi in Kenya, where he embraced Expressionism and painted more than 150 pictures. While on a big-game hunt, he met former American president Theodore Roosevelt. After their African adventures, the entire family headed to the United States, where they settled in the artist colony of Taos, New Mexico. Even under the scorching desert sun, Gallen-Kallela devoted himself to his paintings for the Kalevala. But he also portrayed the Indian chief Siu Ohutaa, which caused quite a stir. In 1926 the family returned to Tarvaspää, and four years later Akseli Gallen-Kallela died of pneumonia. His studio and the house in Tarvaspää were opened as a museum in 1961, where one can get an insight into the artist's infinitely large creative range. Among them are paintings, graphics, sculptures and prints. The change of art from the 19th to the 20th century becomes almost tangible there.
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.jpg "Boulevard in Paris by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Spring in Kalela by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Portrait of Johan Christian Julius Sibelius, Known as Jean Sibelius by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-907465).jpg "Inspiration (Twilight of the Studio) by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Lynx Cave by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Hippopotamuses in the Tana by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Landscape in Ruovesi by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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_1902_-_(MeisterDrucke-890060).jpg "Autumn, the Five Crosses by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Sauna Girl by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Great Black Woodpecker by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Lake Keitele by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Lake View by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "White Roses by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Akseli and Jorma Skiing by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Symposium by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Autumn by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "A Winter Landscape, 1917 by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Winter, study for the Juselius Mausoleum frescoes by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Autumn Landscape, First Snow by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Marie Gallén on the Kuhmoniemi Bridge by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Lemminkäinen by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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_-_Peinture_de_Akseli_(Axel-Gallen_Axel_Gal_-_(MeisterDrucke-1322735).jpg "Portrait of Gustav Mahler by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Mother and Child by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Taos Mountains Shrouded in Clouds by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Building by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Portrait of Gustav Mahler, 1907 by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "North Harbor, Helsinki by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Finland 19th century by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Acacia on the Savannah by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Anger of Kallervo, from")
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.jpg "Study of an Old Man by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Portrait of Industrialist Gustav Adolf Serlachius by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-941646).jpg "Man fishing by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Symposium, The Problem by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Portrait of Actress Ida Aalberg by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-959843).jpg "The Babylonian Woman by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Blue Kikuyu by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Native American on Horseback by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "By the River Tuonela by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Sunset Over the Lake by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-636348).jpg "The Defence of the Sampo by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Boy and Crow by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Portrait of Dr. H.F. Antell by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Portrait of Matti Äyräpää by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Shepherd Boy from Paanajärvi by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1170710).jpg "Imatra in Wintertime by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Kalela in Winter by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Cleared Forest on the Shore of Lake Kallavesi by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Jean Sibelius / v. Gallen-Kallela by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Broken Pine by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Abduction of Sampo by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Woman Cooking Whitefish by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "A. Gallen-Kallela, The Lamenting Boat by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Girl by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Church Girl by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Lakeside Landscape by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Building by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "A. Gallen-Kallela, The Aino Myth by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Kikuyu by the Riverbank by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Farmhouse Room by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "First Lesson by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "A. Gallen-Kallela, Lemminkäinen")
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.jpg "Dancing Kikuyu Warriors by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Two Maasai Warriors by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Lake View by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Zebras by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "View of a Lake by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Spring Ice, View from the Roof in Kalela by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "A. Gallen-Kallela, Theft of the Sampo by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Work Table in Paris by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Frozen Lake, Ruovesi by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Unmasked by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "In a Café in Paris by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Head of Christ by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "A. Gallen-Kallela, Lemminkäinen by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Studio of Comte Deheaulme de Vallombreuse, 36 Rue Jouffrey, Paris 1888 by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Waves by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "A. Gallen-Kallela, Kullervo Goes to War by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "A. Gallen-Kallela, The Adoration of Fire by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "A. Gallen-Kallela, Marjatta and Christ Child by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Sunset on the Savannah by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Studio of Comte Deheaulme de Vallombreuse, 36 Rue Jouffroy, Paris by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Adorant by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Girl in the Wind by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Lynx")
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.jpg "The Artist")
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.jpg "Light and Shades by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Family of Mathematician E.R. Neovius by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Thunderclouds on the Horizon by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Lake Keitele by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Rower by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Winter by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Marie Gallén in Rocky Landscape by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Ekola Farm in Evening Light by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Snow-Covered Rocks at Kalela by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "The Burnt Forest by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Destruction by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Clouds Over a Lake by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "To the Stars by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "View of Lake Jamajärvi by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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.jpg "Theft of the Sampo by Akseli Valdemar Gallen-Kallela")
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