VIENNA, AUSTRIA.-The 謘terreichische Galerie Belvedere presets Modernism's Awakening in Finland | 1890-1920, on view through October 2, 2005. About 100 masterpieces of Finnish painting present an exciting opportunity to explore the range of European art around 1900. Although the Viennese Secessionists esteemed and exhibited Finnish art, it has remained an unknown quantity in Austria.

Yet it was art, along with literature and music, that played a fundamental role in shaping a sense of national identity in fin-de-si鑓le Finland, thus paving the way to the country抯 independence. In 1901 the Belvedere acquired the painting 揝pring� by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, arguably the most famous Finnish painter. It is now for the first time devoting an exhibition to this fascinating variety of modernism.