Finnish art started to form its individual characteristics in the 19th century when

romantic nationalism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

began to rise in the autonomous

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...

Prehistoric art

Marks of human activity in Finland has found in Susiluola,

Kristinestad Kristinestad (; ; ; ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Kristinestad is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Kristinestad is approximately , while the sub-region has a population o ...

. Some excavations have been considered man-made over 100,000 years ago. After the Ice Age, the area of Finland was resettled around 9,000 years ago and the first known sculpture Elk's Head of Huittinen (picture in stamp) has been dated about 5–7000 BCE.

Architecture

The most important products of medieval architecture in Finland are the medieval stone churches. More than a hundred of them were built during 15th and 16th centuries.

Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of t ...

arrived in late 18th century, but important building projects started after 1808 when Finland was an autonomic part of Russia.

Alexander II of Russia Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Grand Du ...

commissioned Carl Ludvig Engel to plan the new Senate and University for Helsinki.

Academic visual arts

The Finnish academic drawing tradition began at the Royal Academy of Turku in 1707 when the first instructions for drawing were given. In 1824 The School moved with the University to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

and the first Finland’s art exhibition was organised at the Drawing School in the autumn of 1845. Painting was rising in the Golden era of Finnish art in the 1880s, when

was the spirit of art.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela Akseli Gallen-Kallela (born Axel Waldemar Gallén; 26 April 1865 – 7 March 1931) was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic poetry, epic. His work is considered a very importa ...

started in naturalism but moved to national romanticism.

Modern art

In the 1950s the Finnish artists looked for foreign influence: first in Paris, then in the United States but also in Stockholm, where modern art exhibitions were organized in Moderna Museet. Abstract art made its breakthrough first in concrete art. Early concretists included Birger Carlstedt and Sam Vanni. When Vanni's monumental painting ''Contrapunctus'' (1959) won the competition for a mural in Helsinki, abstract art was considered to be accepted and established in Finland. Informalism spread quickly in the 1950s and 1960s when it was considered a new approach to

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

. It was also building on a strong tradition of expressionism. It spread even outside of large cities. In the late 20th century, the homoerotic art of Touko Valio Laaksonen, pseudonym Tom of Finland, found a worldwide audience, with his works entering the collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York and appearing on Finnish postage stamps. The Finnish contemporary art scene became much more visible than before with the establishment of Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki in 1998.

References

External links