Ellen Thesleff (5 October 1869 – 12 January 1954) was a Finnish

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

painter, regarded as one of the leading Finnish modernist painters. Thesleff was born in Helsinki, the eldest daughter of five siblings and her father was an amateur painter. She took private lessons and then, in 1887, studied for two years at the Finnish Art Society Drawing School (now known as the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts) with Gunnar Berndtson. In 1891, Thesleff moved to Paris and enrolled into

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

. Thesleff spent all of her life in Finland, France, and Italy, visiting Italy first in 1894. In Finland, she had a family estate at Murole,

Ruovesi Ruovesi is a municipality in the Pirkanmaa region of Finland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Juupajoki, Mänttä-Vilppula, Orivesi, ...

. She never married. Thesleff took part in many big exhibitions in the 20th century; in particular, in 1949 her paintings were on display in a large exhibition of Nordic art in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and were praised by the media. At the beginning of her career, Thesleff worked on

symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

paintings in the style similar to

Eugène Carrière Eugène Anatole Carrière (; 16 January 1849 – 27 March 1906) was a French Symbolist artist of the fin-de-siècle period. Carrière's paintings are best known for their near-monochrome brown palette and their ethereal, dreamlike quality. ...

, though she insisted she was most influenced by

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

. Later, she moved to expressionism and modernism, most notably landscapes. Thesleff was included in the 2018 exhibit ''Women in Paris 1850-1900''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thesleff, Ellen Finnish Expressionist painters Artists from Helsinki 1869 births 1954 deaths 20th-century Finnish women artists Académie Colarossi alumni Finnish women painters People from the Grand Duchy of Finland Ellen Thesleff

See also

References