#helene-schjerfbeck

#helene-schjerfbeck

After six centuries of Swedish rule, and more than a hundred years as a grand duchy of Russia, your nation is finally on the brink of independence. To the south, Europe is tearing itself to bits in the First World War; to the east, there's the Russian Revolution. Most of the art you've seen at this point is either second-rate or beats a patriotic drum-lakes and forests and scenes from the "Kalevala," a national epic featuring some cosmic eggs and a drowned girl.