Poppies

In 1892-93, Helene Schjerfbeck was working as a substitute teacher at her old drawing school in Helsinki, a post that she took up permanently in 1895 on her return from Italy. The vast majority of her time from 1892-1902 was therefore occupied by her teaching job, first in the painting class and then in the life class at the Finnish Art Society drawing school, and she found herself unable to devote much time or energy to her painting. As a result Schjerfbeck's output during this decade is relatively small.

Schjerfbeck painted still-lifes throughout her career and would often consider them as something of a pastime compared to her more usual and prolific figure and portrait work. Her early flower pictures from the 1890s, much like the landscapes from this period, are therefore more free and natural in technique and are amongst her most daring and innovative works. More than any other aspect of her work from this time, her still-lifes betray the artist's preoccupation with concepts of light and colour, while demonstrating Schjerfbeck's own vigour and vitality in approaching subject matter. In her attention to the painterly aspects involved in depicting the specific character and intensity of the colour, her still-lifes can be seen to encompass the very essence of painting.