Year 1868 (1868) Created 1868 | Medium oil on canvas | |
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Dimensions 75 cm × 105 cm (30 in × 41 in) Similar Road in Häme, Out into the World, Hearing the Homework, Lithuanian Girl with Palm Sun, The Art Gallery of Jan Gilde | ||
Kreeta Haapasalo Playing the Kantele in a Peasant Cottage is an oil work on canvas painted in 1868 by Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1808-1873).
Contents
Description
The dimensions of the painting are 75 × 105 cm. It was purchased for the collection of the Ateneum in 1869.
A number of people listen to a kantele playing. This includes the mistress of the house, young women and their children. Leaning in the corner is a pipe-smoking soldier. The environment is simple, related to their everyday chores lit by a window in daylight. The work is reflected in the ideal vision of the Finnish nation and its values.
Analysis
Kreeta Haapasalo, was a well-known folk musician who in periods of famine of the 1860s fed a family traveling as a kantele player and singer of poems. It brought her great popularity at that time brought great interest in the roots of the Finnish people. Kreeta Haapasalo was seen at the time of the ancient tradition as an interpreter of the Kalevala, through which she was able to get in touch with genuine Finnish culture.
Robert Ekman, the painter, was interested in the origins of Finnish culture. Ekman received an education at the Stockholm Academy of Art. He was interested in historical development and public life of the Finnish people. Genre paintings depicting it were well received. He returned to Finland on a permanent basis, after an Italian and French tour in 1845, after which he served until his death in Turku drawing school, which he established in the following year as a teacher.