Gallen-Kallela Museum - The Inner Eye

To the right: Akseli Gallen-Kallela - Kosmos / Universe

We Finns know Gallen-Kallela Museum with the name Tarvaspää. It was the atelier of the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865 - 1931) and he lived on the premises in a separate villa. The studio castle of Tarvaspää is worth a visit as such. The building was completed in 1913 and was designed by the artist himself. At that time the neighbourhood was very silent, no loud motorway nearby. The building is located on a high hill overlooking the sea and sone stairs leading down steep cliffs. Stunning building and environment!

The exhibition The Inner Eye focuses on art of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Along with Akseli Gallen-Kallela, it features Pekka Halonen, Hugo Simberg, Beda Stjernschantz, Ellen Thesleff, Sigrid af Forselles and Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspa. The curator of the exhibition is Nina Kokkinen, a researcher of art and religion and the present exhibition is largely based on her published doctoral dissertation called Seekers of Truth.

I bought myself this fabulous book by Nina Kokkinen:  Seekers of Truth.

It examines how esoteric spirituality is expressed in the art of these three painters:

Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865 - 1931), Pekka Halonen (1865-1933) and Hugo Simberg (1873-1917).

Occultism and esoteric movements achieved unprecedented popularity in the late 19th century. Many artists were inspired by spiritualism, theosophy and the study of psychic phenomena, which came to be known later as parapsychology. Clairvoyance became one of the most fascinating topics of the period. Many people believed that the sixth sense and the inner eye of the soul made it possible to perceive the more subtle levels of reality that would normally remain unseen. Artists began to portray themselves, their friends and the masters that they admired as extrasensory seers and psychics.

Hugo Simberg - Halla / Frost 1895

Hugo Simberg - Säkkijärven poika / Boy from Säkkijärvi 1897

Hugo Simberg - Unikko / The Poppy 1896

Magnus Enckell - Pää / Head 1894

Ida A. Fielitz - Portrait of Sigrid af Forselles

Beda Stjernschantz - Madonna 1898

Pekka Halonen - Madonna 1902. Photo Nina Koskinen. My own photo was unsharp :)

Hugo Simberg - Figure in a desert & a skull, Tampere Cathedral, frescos 1904

Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Akseli Gallen-Kallela  1907

The exhibition was very interesting, although clairvoyance & spiritism are strange to myself. There were old books and photos on display and a visitor interested in esoteric things could spend hours examining them. But I admired only these great paintings, showing the best of The Golden Era of Finnish art.See also Jenny Tieaho's fabulous outdoor exhibition The Black Swan in the museum garden.

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