PAINTERS from Finland

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Finnish Painters of all time. This list of famous Finnish Painters is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Finnish Painters.

1. Helene Schjerfbeck (1862 - 1946)

With an HPI of 66.45, Helene Schjerfbeck is the most famous Finnish Painter.  Her biography has been translated into 40 different languages on wikipedia.

Helena Sofia (Helene) Schjerfbeck (pronounced [heˈleːn ˈʃæ̌rvbek] ; July 10, 1862 – January 23, 1946) was a Finnish painter. A modernist painter, she is known for her realist works and self-portraits, and also for her landscapes and still lifes. Throughout her long life, her work changed dramatically beginning with French-influenced realism and plein air painting. It gradually evolved towards portraits and still life paintings. At the beginning of her career she often produced historical paintings, such as the Wounded Warrior in the Snow (1880), At the Door of Linköping Jail in 1600 (1882) and The Death of Wilhelm von Schwerin (1886). Historical paintings were usually the realm of male painters, as was the experimentation with modern influences and French radical naturalism. As a result, her works produced mostly in the 1880s did not receive a favourable reception until later in her life. Her work starts with a dazzlingly skilled, somewhat melancholic version of late-19th-century academic realism…it ends with distilled, nearly abstract images in which pure paint and cryptic description are held in perfect balance. (Roberta Smith, New York Times, November 27, 1992) Schjerbeck's birthday, July 10, is Finland's national day for the painted arts.

2. Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865 - 1931)

With an HPI of 63.46, Akseli Gallen-Kallela is the 2nd most famous Finnish Painter.  His biography has been translated into 49 different languages.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela (26 April 1865 – 7 March 1931) was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. His work is considered a very important aspect of the Finnish national identity. He changed his name from Gallén to Gallen-Kallela in 1907.

3. Albert Edelfelt (1854 - 1905)

With an HPI of 62.09, Albert Edelfelt is the 3rd most famous Finnish Painter.  His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Albert Gustaf Aristides Edelfelt (21 July 1854 – 18 August 1905) was a Finnish painter noted for his naturalistic style and Realist approach to art. He lived in the Grand Duchy of Finland and made Finnish culture visible abroad, before Finland gained full independence. He was considered the greatest Finnish artist of the second half of 19th - the first half of 20th centuries, and one of the most prominent contributors to the Golden Age of Finnish Art.

4. Tom of Finland (1920 - 1991)

With an HPI of 60.91, Tom of Finland is the 4th most famous Finnish Painter.  His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Touko Valio Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991), known by the pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist who made stylized highly masculinized homoerotic art, and influenced late 20th-century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W. Slade. Over the course of four decades, he produced some 3,500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits, wearing tight or partially removed clothing.

5. Hugo Simberg (1873 - 1917)

With an HPI of 59.73, Hugo Simberg is the 5th most famous Finnish Painter.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Hugo Gerhard Simberg (24 June 1873 – 12 July 1917) was a Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist.

6. Elin Danielson-Gambogi (1861 - 1919)

With an HPI of 53.81, Elin Danielson-Gambogi is the 6th most famous Finnish Painter.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Elin Kleopatra Danielson-Gambogi (3 September 1861 – 31 December 1919) was a Finnish painter, best known for her realist works and portraits. Danielson-Gambogi was part of the first generation of Finnish women artists who received professional education in art, the so-called "painter sisters' generation". The group also included Helene Schjerfbeck (1862–1946), Helena Westermarck (1857-1938), and Maria Wiik (1853-1928).

7. Magnus Enckell (1870 - 1925)

With an HPI of 52.15, Magnus Enckell is the 7th most famous Finnish Painter.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Knut Magnus Enckell (9 November 1870 in Hamina – 27 November 1925 in Stockholm) was a Finnish symbolist painter. At first, he painted with a subdued palette, but from 1902 onwards, used increasingly bright colors. He was a leading member of the Septem group of colorist painters. In Finland, Enckell is considered to have been a very influential symbolist artist.

8. Amélie Lundahl (1850 - 1914)

With an HPI of 51.30, Amélie Lundahl is the 8th most famous Finnish Painter.  Her biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Helga Amélie Lundahl (26 May 1850 – 20 August 1914) was a Finnish painter.

9. Pekka Halonen (1865 - 1933)

With an HPI of 50.36, Pekka Halonen is the 9th most famous Finnish Painter.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Pekka Halonen (23 September 1865 – 1 December 1933) was a Finnish painter of landscapes and people in the national romantic and Realist styles.

10. Helena Westermarck (1857 - 1938)

With an HPI of 50.24, Helena Westermarck is the 10th most famous Finnish Painter.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Helena Charlotta Westermarck (20 November 1857, Helsinki – 5 April 1938, Helsinki) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish artist and writer. She is known for her pioneering biographies of women.