Hot Art

Column by Elise Gegauff

Albert Edelfelt



This time I decided to talk a bit about my favourite finnish painter; Albert Edelfelt.
Most of you probably already know who he is, but for those of you who don’t, he is truly an artist worth your time.
He was a realist painter who captured life in such a detailed way, and in my opinion he is one of the best painters who has ever lived.

Albert Edelfelt was born in Porvoo, Finland, and his father Carl Albert Edelfelt was an architect.
He was interested in drawing and painting from he was very young, and in 1873 when he was 19 years old he went to Antwerpen to study history painting.
After that, he went to Paris to continue his art studies, and it was there that he became the first finnish painted to achieve international fame.
In 1877 in Paris he painted one of his most famous works ”Blanche de Namur, reine de Suede et le prince Haquin” (”Queen Bianca”) and in 1880 he got a medal for the painting ”Conveying the Child’s Coffin”.

He married Ellan de la Chapelle in 1888 and they got their only child; Erik the same year.
They moved back to Helsinki in 1891 and four years later he became the mayor of the Finnish Art Association.
He died 18. august 1905.

If you want to see his art you should visit Ateneum, they have a huge collection of his work. You can also find lots of books about him in their shop, or also, you can just go to Stockmann. There are great books in english as well.

www.ateneum.fi


-Elise Gegauff