1865 – Born in Pori, small port on west coast of Finland.
The grand duchy of Finland, formerly a Swedish possession, is part of the
Russian Empire since 1809. The major linguistic conflict is between the
partisans of Swedish, the old official language, and nativists who favor
Finnish.
1867 – Peter Wilhem Gallen, Akseli’s father quits his
position at a bank to become a farmer. The family settles inland in Tyrvää.
Akseli discovers the Finnish language and old Finnish folk tales from the local
country people.
mid 1870’s - Akseli
studies in Swedish language lyceum in Helsinki where he is made fun of as a
country yokel. He’d rather draw caricatures than study. Studies drawing at the
Finnish Fine Art Society.
1880 – Death of his father.
1881 – Quits school to concentrate on his art studies with
the support of his mother. Executes at 16 his first oil painting, a moonlit
landscape. He is drawn to the idea of an ancient Finnish identity to be found
in old folk tales and the mythical universe of the Kalevala.
1884-86 – Two stays in Paris
where he studies at the Académie Julian under William Bouguereau and Tony
Robert-Fleury.
1887-89 – Third and
longest Paris stay, studies at the studio of Salon painter Fernand Cormon.
Despite his interest in his art studies Akseli is extremely homesick. Exhibits
Finnish country scenes in Paris Salon and at the 1889 World’s fair. In the
spring of 1887, on a visit back home, meets and falls in love with Mary Slöör the sister of a childhood
friend.
1889 – Tired of big city life he moves with his colleague
the count Louis Sparre to a cottage in the central Finnish countryside.
1890 – Marries Mary. For their honeymoon they travel to Karelia the northern homeland of the
Kalevala myths.
1891 – Wins national competition for Kalevala
illustrations. Birth of a daughter, Marjatta.
1892 – Artist and family travel further north to
Paanajärvi where he paints grandiose landscapes. The wild nature of northern
Finland come to represent a sense of nascent national identity.
1893 – Spends
summer in Savonia where he concentrates on Kalevala paintings. He is
close to the cultural movement of the “Young Finns” (Nuori Suomi) among whom are the composers Jean Sybelius and Walter
Kajanus whom he paints in “Symposium”.
1895 – Visits and exhibits in Berlin along with the famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. The art critic Julius
Meier-Graefe commissions illustrations for the first edition of the avant garde
art review Pan. Rushes home when he suddenly learns of the death from
diphtheria of his 4-year old daughter. His wife is devastated. Couple with their younger children,
Jorma and Kristi, travel to London in an attempt to overcome their grief. In
the summer the family moves to an isolated peninsula on a lake in Ruovesi in northern Tavastia. There
Akseli will build his dream house
out of wood and granite with a vast studio and 29 windows. He will call it Kalela. In the winter he concentrates
on his Kalevala cycle. Inspired by Munch he experiments with woodblock prints.
1898 – Travels with family to Italy where they settle in
Florence and also visit Venice, Orvietto, Rome Naples, Sorrento, Capri and
Pompei. In Pompei strikes up a friendship with the Danish artist Oskar
Matthiesen with whom he has long discussions on the art of fresco painting. On
his return to Finland begins working on the great mural paintings destined for
the Finnish pavilion of the Paris World’s Fair of 1900. He will also create the
furniture, textiles and wall décor for one of the pavilion rooms. The pavilion
designed by 3 young architects Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen is a statement of Finnish national identity in defiance to
the official Russian policy of Russification of Finnish culture and
administration of the late 1890’s.
1900 – Leaves for Paris for the World’s Fair. The Finnish
pavilion and the concerts organized by Sibelius will meet with a great success
with the Paris public.
1901 – Paints two great official mural commissions, one
for the Student House in Helsinki and another for the Juselius mausoleum in
Pori. Exhibits abroad, notably at the Vienna
Secession (from 1901 to 1904) where the Wittgensteins buy one of his works.
1902 – Receives the French Legion of Honor. Is
invited to exhibit with the Phalanx group in Munich by Vassily Kandinsky.
1905 – Exhibits at the Emil Richter gallery in Dresden
where the Brücke group of German
Expressionists was founded the same year. The invite him to show with them the
next year in 1906.
1907 – Accepts
invitation by Erich Heckel to join officially the Brücke group. Changes
his name from Gallen (a Swedish name) to Gallen-Kallela
to reinforce his Finnish identity.
1909 – Undertakes long trip to East Africa with family via
Paris. The Gallens settle in a house in the bush outside of Nairobi for 18 months
from where they will undertake several safaris to Tsavo and Makindu. In Africa
Akseli will paint hundreds of small oils of animals, landscapes and locals with
energetic brushwork and in vivid colors.
1913 – Builds new house and studio on land owned by his
wife’s family in Tarvaspää. In the end he decides to return to the calm and
isolation of his old house in Ruovesi. There he begins his second Kalela cycle
which will last until 1921.
1915 – His paintings are shown at the Pacific World’s Fair
in San Francisco.
1917 – Finland declares its independence from Russia on 6
December. Outbreak of civil war
between “Whites” and “Reds”. Akseli participates in White campaign with his son
Jorma under the leadership of general Mannerheim, first Finnish chief of state.
He designs the medals, flags and banknotes of new state. After the war
he returns to his beloved house in the middle of the forest rather than take on
state functions.
1923 – Leaves for the USA to repatriate his works shown in
San Francisco 7 years before. Organizes several exhibitions of his art and
works for 12 months in Taos, the
artistic colony in New Mexico.
Late 1920’s – Executes his most important official commission,
the painting for the dome of the National Museum in Helsinki, with four scenes
taken from the Kalevala.
1931 – Travels to Copenhagen to deliver a series of
lectures. Dies of pneumonia in Stockholm on his way home.
