Early 20th-century Vienna was a vibrant and highly international centre for the arts and sciences that brought artists from a variety of disciplines together with other influential cultural figures. What they shared was a commitment to artistic reform and to embracing all forms of art as equal. It was in Vienna that Akseli Gallen-Kallela made the acquaintance of Gustav Klimt, a founder member of the Vienna Secession, a movement that represented a modern approach to art.

The Secessionists were engaged in the pursuit of what they called the Gesamtkunstwerk, a ‘total work of art’ integrating different art forms, from painting and architecture to design, music and literature, to create an aesthetic and harmonious whole. Akseli Gallen-Kallela, too, shared this aim. Highly regarded by the Secessionists, he was invited to show his works at the group’s exhibitions in Vienna in 1901 and 1904.

The articles in this Ateneum exhibition catalogue illustrate Gallen-Kallela’s role within the wider European art scene and position him in the context of this international movement that challenged not only the artistic conventions of the day but the way people lived their lives. Expert contributors explore the work of the movement’s central figures, shedding light on the influence they came to exert on modern Finnish artists and designers.

Editors: Hanne Selkokari, Lene Wahlsten. Writers: Anu Utriainen, Teppo Jokinen, Sandra Tretter, Peter Weinhäupl, Arnika Groenewald-Schmidt, Marja Lahelma, Leena Svinhufvud, Alexander Klee & Hanne Selkokari.

Gallen-Kallela, Klimt & Wien -exhibition in Ateneum Art Museum 26.9.2025–1.2.2026.