The Aino Triptych
by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1891
Artwork Details
Details
- Year
- 1891
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 154 cm × 380 cm
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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.
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About 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.
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.
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