Works of art at Ainola

The ties between the artists living on the shores of Lake Tuusula also brought together a range of artistic disciplines. Ainola has a great many works of art produced by friends and relations of the Sibelius family, and especially by the family circle of Aino Sibelius. Albert Edelfelt produced a lyrical pastel drawing of Jean Sibelius as a housewarming party gift for Ainola.
Albert Edelfelt: Sibelius, 1904. (Click to enlarge)

The monumental Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela painted several works at Ainola, including a landscape on the lid of a cigar box and “En Saga” (1894) which has given rise to various interpretations. In this three-part composition Gallen-Kallela sought symbolically to represent in colours and strokes the images aroused by Jean Sibelius’ stirring tone poem “En Saga”. The right side of the work features a watercolour portrait of the young Jean Sibelius. The empty space to the lower left was originally intended to be reserved for a musical manuscript in Jean Sibelius’ own hand, but this was never realised.

Aino Sibelius’ uncle, Mihail K. Clodt von Jürgensburg of St. Petersburg, is featured in a couple of pieces, and the works of his brother Eero Järnefelt are very much in evidence. The best known of these is his soulful portrait of Aino Sibelius (1908).
Eero Järnefelt: Aino Sibelius, 1905. (Click to enlarge)

The Sibelius family were particularly touched by two paintings of Oscar Parviainen: “The Funeral Procession” and “The Prayer” (Death of a child). The original ideas for these works arose in Paris, where Jean Sibelius and Oscar Parviainen became friends in the early 20th century. In 1905 Sibelius improvised a funeral march, the mood of which resounded in Parviainen’s mind. He then drew several sketches on the theme of funeral processions, and gave the most advanced of these to Jean Sibelius. When thanking the artist in 1908, Jean Sibelius mentioned that he had recognised the Parisian ideas that had developed through deepening red and black colours, but had nevertheless preserved the essential fury and energy of a sketch. The other work, “The Prayer” was a gift to Jean Sibelius from Oscar Parviainen. The background to this work lies in the musical ideas of the composer, but it clearly also commemorates the death of his daughter Kirsti in 1900. This work, in which a maternal figure stoops over her lifeless daughter, was a particular favourite of Jean Sibelius.

Oscar Parviainen: The Funeral Procession.

Ainola also contains some sculptures and several works of handicrafts, glass items and other arts and crafts as, for example, Jean Sibelius’ youngest daughter Heidi (Blomstedt) was a renowned ceramic artist.