Elin Danielson-Gambogi
The Finnish National Gallery recently begun to publish the reproductions of the masterpieces from their collection - thanks to Europeana we will publish their works for the next two Sundays. Enjoy! :)
Elin Kleopatra Danielson-Gambogi (3 September 1861 – 31 December 1919) was a Finnish painter, best known for her realist works and portraits. Danielson-Gambogi was part of the first generation of Finnish women artists who received professional education in art, the so-called "painter sisters' generation".
Right from her childhood, Elin showed a natural talent for art. At the age of 15 she moved to Helsinki and started studying in the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1883 she moved to Paris where she studied at the Académie Colarossi, while spending the summers painting in Brittany.
Having received a scholarship, in 1895 she left for Florence. One year later she moved to the village of Antignano, where she met and married an Italian painter, Raffaello Gambogi (1874–1943). They had exhibitions in Paris, Florence and Milan and in many Finnish cities.
She has painted herself in half profile, turned slightly towards the viewer or the mirror. She holds an oil palette in one hand and a thin brush in the other. It looks like she is painting her self-portrait with her right hand, but things change in a mirror: a left hand looks like it were the right hand. Which is true? The thin curtain in the background softens the light. The painter’s head is surrounded by a halo of light. Are there other sources of light apart from the window? How does the artist seem to be looking at herself?