
by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1891
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.
Other masterpieces from the Symbolism movement

Gustav Klimt, 1912
Neue Galerie, New York

Gustav Klimt, 1909
MAK Vienna, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, 1907
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gustav Klimt, 1915
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, 1908
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, 1907
Private Collection, Unknown

Mikhail Vrubel
St. Cyril's Monastery, Kyiv, Kyiv

Jan Toorop
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
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