Where Is The Aino Triptych? See It at Ateneum Art Museum

Q: Where can I see The Aino Triptych?

This national treasure is at the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland. The Ateneum holds Finland's finest collection of classical art and Gallen-Kallela's other important Kalevala paintings.

Q: What story does this triptych tell?

The panels illustrate Aino's tragedy from the Finnish epic Kalevala. Promised against her will to the old wizard Väinämöinen, she meets him by the lake, flees into the forest, then drowns herself. She becomes a water spirit forever beyond his reach.

Q: Who was Akseli Gallen-Kallela?

Gallen-Kallela was Finland's greatest Symbolist painter, who created the definitive visual interpretations of the Kalevala myths. His work helped forge Finnish national identity during the struggle for independence from Russia.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela painted the monumental triptych in 1891, illustrating a tragic tale from Finland's national epic, the Kalevala. The three panels show young Aino's fate after being promised to the elderly wizard Väinämöinen. She flees into the forest, drowns herself rather than marry him, and transforms into a water spirit.

The work exemplifies Finnish National Romanticism and helped establish a visual identity for the young nation. The panoramic canvas (154 × 380 cm) uses dark northern colors and mythic imagery. Now at the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki.

This national treasure is at the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland. The Ateneum holds Finland's finest collection of classical art and Gallen-Kallela's other important Kalevala paintings.

The panels illustrate Aino's tragedy from the Finnish epic Kalevala. Promised against her will to the old wizard Väinämöinen, she meets him by the lake, flees into the forest, then drowns herself. She becomes a water spirit forever beyond his reach.

Gallen-Kallela was Finland's greatest Symbolist painter, who created the definitive visual interpretations of the Kalevala myths. His work helped forge Finnish national identity during the struggle for independence from Russia.

The Aino Triptych

Details

Where to See It

The Artist

More by Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Marie Gallén at the Kuhmoniemi-bridge

Lemminkäinen's Mother

Conceptio artis

The Defense of the Sampo

Also at Ateneum Art Museum

Aino Myth, Triptych

Démasquée

Related Symbolism Works

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II

The Tree of Life

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I

Death and Life

The Kiss

Wasserschlangen II (Water Serpents II)

Angel with Labara

The Sea at Katwijk

About The Aino Triptych

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