Hannu Väisänen's exhibition at Ateneum

Hannu Väisänen and Schillmark Variations at Ateneum, Helsinki

April 13–August 8, 2021

Hannu Väisänen's exhibition at Ateneum features variations of Nils Schillmark’s painting Strawberry Girl (1782). The work at the Ateneum made an indelible impression on the artist as a child. The model for the painting was a girl from a noble family, Ulrika Charlotta Armfelt. When creating the series of works, Väisänen studied the lives of both Schillmark and Armfelt.

In addition to paintings, the exhibition will feature 20 fragments of prose written by Väisänen. In these texts, Väisänen describes his feelings when looking at Schillmark’s works, as he pictures, for example, the lucky and unlucky turns in Armfelt’s life. The text fragments explore the potential of prose to express things that could not be presented by painting.

Hannu Väisänen will continue the Schillmark theme in his upcoming exhibition at Galerie Forsblom on May 14–June 6, 2021.