4.2.6 Finland: Culture
Description
This article is from the Nordic countries FAQ, by Antti Lahelma and Johan Olofsson, with numerous contributions by others.
4.2.6 Finland: Culture
Finnish culture could be characterized as a mixture of Swedish and
Finnish elements, with a touch of Russian influence especially in the
eastern provinces. Mikael Agricola (1510-57) established Finnish as a
written language. The national epic Kalevala, collected from Karelian
oral poetry by the scholar Elias Lönnrot, has had enormous effect on
the forming of the Finnish culture in the last century, as did the
poetry of Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-72) and the drama of the author
Aleksis Kivi (1834-72). The scholar H. G. Porthan (1739-1804) awakened
the public interest in Finnish mythology and folk poetry, and laid a
firm basis to humanist sciences. Tove Jansson (1914--) has won
popularity with her books about the Moomins.
Music has had a special place in Finnish culture, the best known and
loved composer being of course Jean Sibelius (1865-1957); others
include Fredrik Pacius (1809-91), Oskar Merikanto (1868-1924), and
Aarre Merikanto (1893-1958), Leevi Madetoja (1887-1947), and Uuno
Klami (1900-61). Aulis Sallinen, Joonas Kokkonen and Magnus Lindberg
are major contemporary composers. Hundreds of music festivals draw
large crowds in the summer; among the best known are Kaustinen Folk
Festival, Savonlinna Opera Festival which is held in a medieval
castle, and Ruisrock in Turku.
Finnish architecture has won international fame; it is represented by
people such as Eliel Saarinen (and his son Eero Saarinen, who worked
chiefly in North America) Wivi Lönn (1872-1966), and Lars Sonck
(1870-1956) who were pioneers of the national romantic style.
Neoclassicism was introduced by J. S. Siren (1889-1961), and
functionalism by Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). Aalto is also well known as
an urban planner, interior designer, and industrial and furniture
designer. Reima and Raili Pietilä are contemporary architects well
known for their unconventional, expressionistic style.
Among painters, Albert Edelfelt (1854-1905) and Akseli Gallen-Kallela
(1865-1931) are the best known representatives of the golden era of
Finnish painting; their styles were naturalism, realism, and
symbolism, the themes often being taken from Finnish history or
mythology. Helene Schjerbeck (1862-1946) was a leader in the break
with realism, Hugo Simberg (1873-1917) was one of the foremost
symbolists, and Tyko Sallinen (1879-1955) was one of the first
expressionists.
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