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Lemminkäinen's Mother
Akseli Gallen-Kallela · Symbolism & Art Nouveau
- Artist
- Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931)
- Date
- 1897
- Dimensions
- 85.5 x 108.5 cm
- Medium
- Tempera on canvas
- Location
- Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
This painting shows a scene from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic: a grieving mother kneels beside the lifeless body of her son, the hero Lemminkäinen, on the dark bank of the river of Tuonela, the land of the dead.
A closer look
In the story, Lemminkäinen was killed and cut into pieces, and his body thrown into the black river. His mother raked the water with a long rake until she had found every piece, sewed them together, and then waited for a bee to bring healing honey from the heavens. Gallen-Kallela shows the moment of waiting: the mother looks up at a ray of light in which the bee will come. The rocky shore is strewn with bones, and the sacred swan of Tuonela glides on the dark water behind. The red of the river and the pale body create a solemn, almost religious image, often compared to a Pietà.
More by Akseli Gallen-Kallela
Famous works elsewhere
- The Defense of the Sampo 1896
- The Artist's Mother 1896
- Démasquée 1888
- In the Sauna 1889
- Kullervo Cursing 1899
- Aino Myth 1891