Yrjö Vihtori Saarinen (13 December 1899 – 9 January 1958) was a Finnish self-taught painter. In 1955, he was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal [1] and granted an artists' pension by the Finnish government. The novelist Mika Waltari, who collected Saarinen's works, also helped him financially. At times, Saarinen supported himself by painting billboards and signs.
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland is a country in Northern Europe bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, and Gulf of Finland, between Norway to the north, Sweden to the northwest, and Russia to the east. Finland is a Nordic country and is situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia. The capital and largest city is Helsinki. Other major cities are Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Oulu and Turku.
Mika Toimi Waltari was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel The Egyptian. He was extremely productive, and wrote in addition to novels also poetry, short stories, crime novels, plays, essays, travel stories, film scripts and rhymed texts for comic strips.
Saarinen's work includes figure paintings, portraits, landscapes and still lifes.
Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to depict a human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and private persons, or they may be inspired by admiration or affection for the subject. Portraits are often important state and family records, as well as remembrances.
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of landscapes in art – natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view – with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works, landscape backgrounds for figures can still form an important part of the work. Sky is almost always included in the view, and weather is often an element of the composition. Detailed landscapes as a distinct subject are not found in all artistic traditions, and develop when there is already a sophisticated tradition of representing other subjects.
The Hyvinkää Museum of Art in Southern Finland has a collection of about 200 paintings and 60 drawings by Yrjö Saarinen.
Hyvinkää is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region, approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) north of the capital Helsinki. The town was chartered in 1960. Hyvinkää belongs to the region of Uusimaa. The population of Hyvinkää is 46,622.
