Girl from Eydtkuhne II

We present today's work thanks to the Finnish National Gallery, where until March 27th, 2022, you can visit The Modern Woman, an exhibition that discusses the role and position of Finnish women artists in the decades of 20th-century Modernism. Helene Schjerfbeck’s importance in Finnish modernist art is undeniable. She is also one of the stars of the exhibition. Today you can enjoy her work in DailyArt.  :)

The themes and painting style of her work, which had already seen many changes in expression, shifted toward a more simplified, stylized modernism after she moved to Hyvinkää in 1902. Schjerfbeck followed contemporary art through magazines and books and was interested in clothing and fashion. A new phenomenon of the time, the independent, emancipated new woman became one of her key themes. Of particular note is Schjerfbeck’s series of self-portraits, spanning the artist’s entire 70-year career. Here she depicted a no-name model, whose garment is a grid of broad pastel brushstrokes, and her elongated face is reduced to its essentials. Her body dissolves into the background. 

P.S. Here are more dream-like works by Helene Schjerfbeck to admire.  <3

P.P.S. Check out our artsy notebooks full of art from amazing artists.