HELSINKI.- The Ateneum Art Museum, which is part of the Finnish National Gallery, has received three Kalevala-themed tempera paintings by Joseph Alanen (1885–1920) for its collection, from a private donor. Before this donation, the Finnish National Gallery’s collection only included one work by Alanen. The works will be placed on display in the Kalevala exhibition gallery of the Stories of Finnish Art exhibition, on Kalevala Day, 28 February 2018.

“We are extremely grateful for this donation of Joseph Alanen’s works. The collection of the Finnish National Gallery has always been built in collaboration with private donors, and the same holds true today. Alanen’s works are a welcome addition to the Kalevala section of the Stories of Finnish art exhibition”, says the museum director, Susanna Pettersson.

“Our family has had the pleasure and the privilege of living with works by Joseph Alanen, who is a member of the family. Nevertheless, we feel that the works are so important in terms of their imagery and cultural-historical value that they belong to all Finnish people. Alanen lived most of his life in Finland, which was then part of the Russian empire. As a Fennoman, I’m sure he would be pleased that the works have been donated to the Finnish National Gallery and made available for the Finnish people to enjoy”, says the representative of the donor family, Anna Wartiovaara.

The donated paintings are Defence of the Sampo (1910–1912), The Wild Duck and the Celestial Bodies (1919–1920) and Lemminkäinen and the Cowherd (1919–1920). The last two will be featured in the Stories of Finnish Art exhibition, starting on 28 February. The works will be added to the Ateneum collection under the title Collection Maine Wartiovaara née Alanen.

Joseph Alanen almost always painted with tempera colours on unprimed linen. He used a shadowless method of painting in which the illusion of depth was achieved through the use of colour. From the beginning of his career, Alanen was interested in themes related to the Kalevala epic, and it was his goal to depict the entire Kalevala, one poem at a time.

The line and ornamentation were of great importance in Alanen’s Kalevala-themed art. The water, air, clouds and space are highly stylised, and the vegetation decorative. The people depicted in the paintings can often only be identified based on the content of the poem. His later works display an influence of Jugendstil, in particular. As symbols from the Kalevala epic, Alanen’s paintings continued to feature swans, lilies and the black river of the Tuonela underworld.

Other works on display in the Kalevala exhibition gallery of the Stories of Finnish Art exhibition include Akseli Gallen-Kallela's Aino Myth (1891), Lemminkäinen's Mother (1897) and Kullervo Cursing (1899);Robert Wilhelm Ekman's Ilmatar (1860); and Heikki W. Virolainen's sculptures Marjatta (1965) and Virgin Daughter of the Ether (1970).