Lot Essay
We are grateful to Irene Riihimaki for her assistance in cataloguing this painting. The painting will be included in the Akseli Gallen-Kallela catalogue raisonné project. (www.gallenkallela.org)
Technical analysis of this painting was carried out with the Ateneum Museum, Helsinki, in 2026.
Pigment analysis carried out in 2026 helps us to date our present painting to 1905-1909, suggesting that the work was painted especially for his friend Mathilda von Troil. Mathilda von Troil, like Gallen-Kallela, worked to celebrate the Finnish soul.
Despair (Epatoivo) & The Jusélius Mausoleum
Despair (Epatoivo) relates to one of Gallen-Kallela’s most important commissions - the Jusélius Mausoleum. Destroyed by fire, the fresco images are now best known through the studies in the Ateneum. As Tuija Wahlroos, Director of The Gallen-Kallela Museum, Helsinki, writes:
The Jusélius Mausoleum is a unique artistic entity in the history of Finnish art. The neo-gothic octagonal building was built in the graveyard of Käppärä, in Pori, between 1898–1903. The architect Josef Stenbäck (1854-1929) and Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who was responsible for the painted decoration of the interior, fulfilled the commission from F. A. Jusélius, a wealthy businessman, who wanted a burial chapel to be built in memory of his daughter Sigrid, who had died at the age of eleven.
Despite the pressure of preparing the frescoes for the Paris Exposition Universelle, Gallen-Kallela was fascinated by a new project, painting frescos for the Jusélius Mausoleum in Pori. Architect Josef Stenbäck approached Gallen-Kallela in 1899 suggesting the commission and describing his vision for the frescoes:
‘Regarding the theme, I have thought that the frescoes … should symbolically depict the victory of death over matter and the victory of the spirit over death’ (J. Stenbäck-Axel Gallén quoted in O. Okkonen, A. Gallen-Kallela, elämä ja taide, Helsinki, 1961, p. 222)
The artist responded:
‘I namely take a commission such as this most seriously …Not to mention the sublime elements that would come into use in the paintings suggested by you, I find the themes so noble that it rends my heart to dream of them’ (A. Gallén-Josef Stenbäck quoted in ibid., p. 226)
Gallen-Kallela’s visual concept of the frescoes evolved from Stenbäck’s ideas and was mixed with family tragedy: ‘I intend to depict the slow, winding course of our people along the ridge of life to Tuonela [the realm of the dead]. This matter became even clearer in my mind after the death of my daughter a few years ago’ (ibid.; Gallen-Kallela’s first child Marjatta died at the age of four in 1895).
The Jusélius mausoleum thus became a monument resting on the sorrow of two men who had lost children. It also became a watershed for Gallen-Kallela, a kind of mid-statement of his artistic career. In these frescoes, he achieved a stylistic culmination of his national romantic period of the 1890s. He converted into images his knowledge and experiences of life, nature, and folklore. The frescoes also refer to the old European dance macabre tradition (T. Wahlroos, Elämän harjulla, 2015, p. 11).
Gallen-Kallela started the project in the summer of 1901; by the summer of 1903 the six large frescoes of the octagonal central hall were painted. Together, they form a symbolic cycle starting with the spring of life and ending in winter cloaked in sleep.
Despair (Epatoivo) & The River of Tuonela
The River of Tuonela, the realm of the dead summons people of all ages, children and men in their prime, the elderly. Gallen-Kallela, who painted himself in the fresco, is shown to be in this realm before he is ready. He looks back from the scene to Building, to work still to be done. (Tuija Wahlroos, Director of The Gallen-Kallela Museum, Helsinki, catalogue note: Autumn - Five Crosses: A preliminary work for the fresco in the Jusélius Mausoleum – Christie’s, London, 13 October 2023).
Photographs of Akseli Gallen-Kallela at work show that when he was painting the large frescos he would use studies on various scales. A contemporary photograph of Gallen-Kallela’s wilderness studio in Ruovesi shows one such study for the present figure.
The composition of the present painting, Despair, brings some fascinating insights.
In the foreground, the nude female figure symbolically displays and act proclaiming despair, her forearms posed horizontally, parallel to the straight line of the top of the canvas. This firmly accentuates her pose within the framing of the picture. Susanna Pettersson observes that Gallen-Kallela refines his depiction of the nude female form in his academic studies in Paris, and later uses the motif in various ways throughout his oeuvre; “Naked female bodies carry a strong symbolic meaning in Ad Astra (1894 and 1907) and the frescoes for the Jusélius mausoleum (1903)…to mention a few examples” (S. Pettersson, ‘Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s Nude Studies’ in Art Bulletin of the Nationalmuseum Stockholm, Volume 26:1).
Akseli Gallen-Kallela and the use of sublime red
The sublime red cloud-like formations to the left of the painting are a motif which was used by Gallen-Kallela in his deeply personal portrait of his mother, in the collection of the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
In the evocative portrait of his mother, the cloud formations sit above the clearly defined horizon line. In Despair they float, more ambiguously to the right hand side.
Gallen-Kallela also featured his mother in a masterpiece painted a year following this portrait - Lemminkäinen's Mother (1897) - a painting which conveys a study in maternal love through its universal symbolism. Based on the story from the Kalevala, Lemminkäinen, a great warrior, is dead following his attempt to kill the Swan of Tuonela in the realm of the dead.
The river of Tuonela links The Portrait of the Artist’s Mother (1896) though Lemminkäinen's Mother (1897) to The River of Tuonela (1903) for the Jusélius Mausoleum.
Gallen Kallela experimented with a red sky seeping from right to left to a most dramatic effect in the background of in his earlier symbolist masterpiece Symposion (1894), similarly a painting which featured the artist in self-portrait.
Technical analysis of this painting was carried out with the Ateneum Museum, Helsinki, in 2026.
Pigment analysis carried out in 2026 helps us to date our present painting to 1905-1909, suggesting that the work was painted especially for his friend Mathilda von Troil. Mathilda von Troil, like Gallen-Kallela, worked to celebrate the Finnish soul.
Despair (Epatoivo) & The Jusélius Mausoleum
Despair (Epatoivo) relates to one of Gallen-Kallela’s most important commissions - the Jusélius Mausoleum. Destroyed by fire, the fresco images are now best known through the studies in the Ateneum. As Tuija Wahlroos, Director of The Gallen-Kallela Museum, Helsinki, writes:
The Jusélius Mausoleum is a unique artistic entity in the history of Finnish art. The neo-gothic octagonal building was built in the graveyard of Käppärä, in Pori, between 1898–1903. The architect Josef Stenbäck (1854-1929) and Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who was responsible for the painted decoration of the interior, fulfilled the commission from F. A. Jusélius, a wealthy businessman, who wanted a burial chapel to be built in memory of his daughter Sigrid, who had died at the age of eleven.
Despite the pressure of preparing the frescoes for the Paris Exposition Universelle, Gallen-Kallela was fascinated by a new project, painting frescos for the Jusélius Mausoleum in Pori. Architect Josef Stenbäck approached Gallen-Kallela in 1899 suggesting the commission and describing his vision for the frescoes:
‘Regarding the theme, I have thought that the frescoes … should symbolically depict the victory of death over matter and the victory of the spirit over death’ (J. Stenbäck-Axel Gallén quoted in O. Okkonen, A. Gallen-Kallela, elämä ja taide, Helsinki, 1961, p. 222)
The artist responded:
‘I namely take a commission such as this most seriously …Not to mention the sublime elements that would come into use in the paintings suggested by you, I find the themes so noble that it rends my heart to dream of them’ (A. Gallén-Josef Stenbäck quoted in ibid., p. 226)
Gallen-Kallela’s visual concept of the frescoes evolved from Stenbäck’s ideas and was mixed with family tragedy: ‘I intend to depict the slow, winding course of our people along the ridge of life to Tuonela [the realm of the dead]. This matter became even clearer in my mind after the death of my daughter a few years ago’ (ibid.; Gallen-Kallela’s first child Marjatta died at the age of four in 1895).
The Jusélius mausoleum thus became a monument resting on the sorrow of two men who had lost children. It also became a watershed for Gallen-Kallela, a kind of mid-statement of his artistic career. In these frescoes, he achieved a stylistic culmination of his national romantic period of the 1890s. He converted into images his knowledge and experiences of life, nature, and folklore. The frescoes also refer to the old European dance macabre tradition (T. Wahlroos, Elämän harjulla, 2015, p. 11).
Gallen-Kallela started the project in the summer of 1901; by the summer of 1903 the six large frescoes of the octagonal central hall were painted. Together, they form a symbolic cycle starting with the spring of life and ending in winter cloaked in sleep.
Despair (Epatoivo) & The River of Tuonela
The River of Tuonela, the realm of the dead summons people of all ages, children and men in their prime, the elderly. Gallen-Kallela, who painted himself in the fresco, is shown to be in this realm before he is ready. He looks back from the scene to Building, to work still to be done. (Tuija Wahlroos, Director of The Gallen-Kallela Museum, Helsinki, catalogue note: Autumn - Five Crosses: A preliminary work for the fresco in the Jusélius Mausoleum – Christie’s, London, 13 October 2023).
Photographs of Akseli Gallen-Kallela at work show that when he was painting the large frescos he would use studies on various scales. A contemporary photograph of Gallen-Kallela’s wilderness studio in Ruovesi shows one such study for the present figure.
The composition of the present painting, Despair, brings some fascinating insights.
In the foreground, the nude female figure symbolically displays and act proclaiming despair, her forearms posed horizontally, parallel to the straight line of the top of the canvas. This firmly accentuates her pose within the framing of the picture. Susanna Pettersson observes that Gallen-Kallela refines his depiction of the nude female form in his academic studies in Paris, and later uses the motif in various ways throughout his oeuvre; “Naked female bodies carry a strong symbolic meaning in Ad Astra (1894 and 1907) and the frescoes for the Jusélius mausoleum (1903)…to mention a few examples” (S. Pettersson, ‘Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s Nude Studies’ in Art Bulletin of the Nationalmuseum Stockholm, Volume 26:1).
Akseli Gallen-Kallela and the use of sublime red
The sublime red cloud-like formations to the left of the painting are a motif which was used by Gallen-Kallela in his deeply personal portrait of his mother, in the collection of the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
In the evocative portrait of his mother, the cloud formations sit above the clearly defined horizon line. In Despair they float, more ambiguously to the right hand side.
Gallen-Kallela also featured his mother in a masterpiece painted a year following this portrait - Lemminkäinen's Mother (1897) - a painting which conveys a study in maternal love through its universal symbolism. Based on the story from the Kalevala, Lemminkäinen, a great warrior, is dead following his attempt to kill the Swan of Tuonela in the realm of the dead.
The river of Tuonela links The Portrait of the Artist’s Mother (1896) though Lemminkäinen's Mother (1897) to The River of Tuonela (1903) for the Jusélius Mausoleum.
Gallen Kallela experimented with a red sky seeping from right to left to a most dramatic effect in the background of in his earlier symbolist masterpiece Symposion (1894), similarly a painting which featured the artist in self-portrait.