Marie Gallén at the Kuhmoniemi Bridge

Akseli Gallen-Kallela was a leading figure in modern Finnish painting and the decorative arts. He studied painting in both Helsinki and Paris. On returning to Finland, he became fascinated with the 'Kalevala' epic, a compilation of ancient poetry, celebrating the mythic origins of Finland. He decided to base his art on the exploration of these myths. By the mid-1890s Gallen-Kallela began to incorporate Symbolist motifs in his work. His landscape paintings of about 1900 show the influence of both Gauguin and Monet. Over the course of his fin de siecle career, Gallen-Kallela progressed from realistic naturalism towards symbolism and linearity, progress particularly marked in his painted illustrations of "Kalevala", and in sensitive portraits of subjects including Edvard Munch, Maxim Gorky and his friend Jean Sibelius.