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The Convalescent
Helene Schjerfbeck · Realism & Academic
- Artist
- Helene Schjerfbeck (1862–1946)
- Date
- 1888
- Dimensions
- 92 x 107 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
The Convalescent shows a little girl wrapped in a blanket, sitting in a large wicker chair by a window after an illness. She leans forward, gazing intently at a twig with fresh green leaves that she holds in a glass of water on the table before her.
A closer look
Schjerfbeck painted the picture in St Ives, Cornwall, where many artists gathered in the 1880s. The soft, pale light from the window fills the room, and the girl's tousled red hair and flushed cheeks show that she is just beginning to recover. The green twig, a sign of spring and new life, echoes her own return to health. The picture is often read as a reflection of the painter herself, who had suffered from ill health since childhood and was recovering from a broken engagement at the time.