Pekka Halonen (1865 - 1933) is one of our most important national romantic painters. He studied in Helsinki at the Art Society's Drawing School for four years and graduated with good grades winning a scholarship to study abroad. He went in 1890 to Paris, where he first studied at the Academy Julian and later under Paul Gauguin.
In 1895 Pekka Halonen married a young music student, Maija Mäkinen and they got 8 children. In the beginning of their marriage, the couple lived in several places before settling down in a house with a studio on Lake Tuusula in 1895. Here the Halonen family lived in an imposing pinewood villa known as ‘Halosenniemi’. Halosenniemi was designed by Pekka Halonen himself and his brother and was completed in 1902.
The building is now a museum that includes original furnishings and Halonen’s own art. On the shores of the lake where he resided an artists’ community flourished, helping to develop a sense of Finnish national identity. In addition to Halonen the artists' community's members were composer Jean Sibelius, writer Juhani Aho, poet J. H. Erkko and painters Eero Järnefelt and Venny Soldan-Brofeldt.
The view through the big atelier window is fascinating and it was an important source of inspiration for his art. In Tuusula Halonen had a wide circle of artist friends and relatives which provided him with a daily source of social and cultural stimulation.
I write here only shortly because at Alternative Finland you'll find many great photos of his paintings and his curriculum in English. It's worth while looking!
The fifth photo that I'm sharing is my salute to the fabulous September 2016!
Wishing you a good start for October!
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