| The Garden of Death | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Hugo Simberg |
| Year | 1896 |
| Type | Watercolor and gouache |
| Dimensions | 16 cm× 17 cm(6.3 in× 6.7 in) |
| Location | Ateneum, Helsinki |
The Garden of Death (Finnish : Kuoleman puutarha; 1896) is a painting by Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg. Like many of Simberg's paintings, it depicts a gloomy, otherworldly scene. The central figures are reminiscent of the classic black-clad Grim Reaper, but paradoxically are tending to gardens; traditionally symbols of birth or renewal.
In his childhood, Simberg was heavily involved in rural life. This exposure to rural life early, allowed him to be able to create art based on the simplest themes of life such as life and death. In The Garden of Death particularly, Simberg chose to avoid the normal conventions of symbolism in an effort to display his rendition of "child-like naivety". [1] In Finland, it was not unusual to address the theme of death. For Simberg, in particular, due to his rural life upbringing, he would typically explore the destructive forces of nature in his works. In these works, he would commonly personify nature while also objectifying humanity. [1]
Simberg began his artistic journey at the Finnish Fine Arts Association in Helsinki. [2] During his time as a student, he was taught under the instruction of symbolist artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. After nearly two years of instruction from Gallen-Kallela, Simberg's artwork began to be heavily influenced by Gallen-Kallela's fusion of both symbolism and the National Romantic style. [2] In Simberg's earliest paintings such as Frost and Autumn, the usage of watercolors is applied to demonstrate Simberg's flair of symbolism showing “off fairy-like motifs”. [2] During Simberg's entire career he took many trips away from his homeland, Finland. In the earliest parts of his career, Simberg would avoid the decadent areas of well-known cities listening to the instruction from Gallen-Kallela. While he typically stayed in the rural lands, he also traveled within some cities. Throughout his time in these different cities, he would find influences from the different art styles offered such as photography, theater, and sculptures.[ citation needed ]
For years, interpretations of Simberg's artwork have been a place of mystery for historians and psychologists alike. [2] However, The Garden of Death is one of the few paintings whose symbolism Simberg explained; typically he preferred to let viewers come to their own conclusions. In a note on one sketch he described the garden as "the place where the dead end up before going to Heaven". [3] [4] Because of this explanation, there is a connection from this piece of artwork to spiritualism. [5] Furthering this interpretation further, the work is described as having the skeletons symbolize being a friend and performing typical home rituals. Simberg's juxtaposition of the traditionally frightening imagery of death with the tenderness and humor of his portrayal invite the viewer to consider mortality in a new light. [6]
The image of death as the gardener is considered a significant reference to Simberg's typology. [5] The garden used in the work can be seen as philosophical gardens, possibly even pointing to an overall symbol of a new type of religious garden. Following the idea of religious gardens, the gardens created by Simberg follow the Gardens of Eden, the Garden of Christ, and the Garden of Virtues. [5] Because Simberg decided to mix both positive and negative characters in the artwork, many leaders within the Catholic Church were left questioning the indirect notion of biblical characters. Many of the Church's authorities felt irritated and ultimately opposed the artwork.
The painting was a favored subject of Simberg's and he made several versions using different techniques, including larger fresco version of the painting in the Tampere Cathedral, which also contains other works by Simberg. [7] [8] Since Simberg gave observers a slight explanation the artwork, many still try to interpret the symbols used in the piece today.
Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realism.
Akseli Gallen-Kallela was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. His work is considered a very important aspect of the Finnish national identity. He changed his name from Gallén to Gallen-Kallela in 1907.
Hugo Gerhard Simberg was a Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist.
Lemminkäinen or Lemminki is a prominent figure in Finnish mythology. He is one of the heroes of the Kalevala, where his character is a composite of several separate heroes of oral poetry. He is usually depicted as young and good-looking, with wavy red hair.
Jorma Gallen-Kallela was a Finnish artist. He followed in the footsteps of his father, the famed artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
Ateneum is an art museum in Helsinki, Finland and one of the three museums forming the Finnish National Gallery. It is located in the centre of Helsinki on the south side of Rautatientori square close to Helsinki Central railway station. It has the biggest collections of classical art in Finland. Before 1991 the Ateneum building also housed the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and University of Art and Design Helsinki.
Pehr Louis Sparre af Söfdeborg was a Swedish painter, designer and draughtsman, most noted for his early work in the Finnish national romanticism and jugend styles. He also competed in the individual and team épée fencing events at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Finnish National Gallery is the largest art museum institution of Finland. It consists of the Ateneum, an art museum; Kiasma, a contemporary art museum; and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, a historic house and art museum.
Tampere Cathedral is a Lutheran church in Tampere, Finland, and the seat of the Diocese of Tampere. The building was designed in the National Romantic style by Lars Sonck, and built between 1902 and 1907.
Knut Magnus Enckell was a Finnish symbolist painter. At first, he painted with a subdued palette, but from 1902 onwards, used increasingly bright colors. He was a leading member of the Septem group of colorist painters. In Finland, Enckell is considered to have been a very influential symbolist artist.
The Wounded Angel is a painting by Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg. It is one of the most recognizable of Simberg's works, and was voted Finland's "national painting" in a vote held by the Ateneum art museum in 2006. In a similar 2013 vote held by Nordic Moneta, it was voted second most important.
The Defense of the Sampo is a tempera-on-canvas Romantic national painting created in 1896 by Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The painting illustrates a passage from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot in the 19th century.
Lemminkäinen's Mother is an 1897 Romantic nationalist painting by Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The painting illustrates a passage from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot in the 19th century.
Carl Johan Bengts was a Finnish-Swedish painter in the Modernist style who specialized in rural themes.
Finnish art started to form its individual characteristics in the 19th century, when romantic nationalism began to rise in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland.
Hilda Flodin was a Finnish artist. She worked in a variety of media, but in the first part of her career primarily sculpture and etchings, later primarily painting, especially portraits.
Kullervo Sets Off for War is a painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela from the year 1901. He painted the subject in tempera painting and as a fresco which is located in the music hall of Old Student House of Helsinki University.
Janne Sirén is a Finnish art historian and the Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. Before joining the Albright-Knox, Sirén served as Director and City of Helsinki Department Chief at the Helsinki Art Museum from 2007 to 2013. Prior to that, he served as Director of the Tampere Art Museum from 2004 to 2007.
Symbolist painting was one of the main artistic manifestations of symbolism, a cultural movement that emerged at the end of the 19th century in France and developed in several European countries. The beginning of this current was in poetry, especially thanks to the impact of The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire (1868), which powerfully influenced a generation of young poets including Paul Verlaine, Stéphane Mallarmé and Arthur Rimbaud. The term "symbolism" was coined by Jean Moréas in a literary manifesto published in Le Figaro in 1886. The aesthetic premises of Symbolism moved from poetry to other arts, especially painting, sculpture, music and theater. The chronology of this style is difficult to establish: the peak is between 1885 and 1905, but already in the 1860s there were works pointing to symbolism, while its culmination can be established at the beginning of the First World War.