Produced by the Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, The Modern Women presents four leading artists of Finnish modernism: Helene Schjerfbeck, Sigrid Schauman, Ellen Thesleff and Elga Sesemann. From the late 19th century and for the greater part of the 20th century, these artists played a crucial role in Finnish art history. The exhibition will be presented in 2017 to celebrate the centenary of Finland's independence.

Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946) is well known for her images, which were increasingly scaled back until only the most meaningful remained. The exhibition includes a series of portraits and several still lifes painted from the early 20th century until the years preceding her death.

Sigrid Schauman (1877-1979) was a landscape painter, who, in addition to studying for Helene Schjerfbeck, educated herself in Paris where she befriended Sonia and Robert Delaunay. She also spent time in Italy working with Ellen Thesleff. The exhibition features stylised landscapes saturated with colour and several nudes.

Ellen Thesleff (1869 -1954) began her career as a painter in a naturalist style. After encountering European modernism she was inspired by fauvism and expressionism. During long sojourns in France and Italy she developed her treatment of colour, which transformed her into a prominent depicter of light. In her landscapes, many of which are presented in the exhibition, nature is dissolved in a flowing colourful light.

Elga Sesemann (1922-2007) was an expressionist painter and an acclaimed colourist. A self-portrait and a cityscape are her contributions to the exhibition. 

Lars Jonsson, b.1952, is an artist, writer and ornithologist. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Uppsala. In his art Jonsson depicts birds and their habitats and he has also published a number of books on birdlife and nature. Lars Jonsson often works outdoors and paints what he sees in his spotting scope. Many of his watercolours and oil paintings are painted in situ. His studio work is based on his sketchbooks comprising thousands of studies and sketches of birds, landscapes, light effects and compositional sketches. At Millesgården oil paintings and watercolours are on display.

Kent Ullberg, b. 1945, is a Swedish-American sculptor. After completing his studies at Konstfack, the University College of Arts, Craft and Design, Stockholm in the 1960s, he left Sweden and lived in different parts of Europe and later in Botswana, where he worked as a curator at the National Museum and Art Gallery. Today Ullberg lives and works in the United States in Texas and Colorado. Kent Ullberg depicts animals, often in a monumental format in the public domain. His works are to be found throughout the world. Havsvind  [Sea Wind], a stainless steel sculpture, over five metres high, is installed at Alviks strand in Stockholm and one of his recent monuments is the giant fountain Spirit of Nebraska’s Wilderness in Omaha, Nebraska, comprising 58 life-size Canada geese. Kent Ullberg’s animal sculptures have been temporarily relocated to Millesgården, a place Ullberg often visited as a young artist as he was greatly inspired by the monumentality and content of Milles’ sculptures.

Throughout the years Marianne Bernadotte (b. 1924), actor, philanthropist and the widow of the designer Sigvard Bernadotte, has appeared in apparel from some of the major French fashion houses, including Chanel, Balmain and Dior. Personal friends of the fashion designer Pierre Balmain, the Bernadottes’ wardrobe comprised a large number of garments from the house of Balmain. Based on several of Marianne Bernadotte’s fashion garments, primarily from the 1970s and 1980s, we portray the couture of these French fashion houses. The exhibition will be displayed in Millesgården’s Artist Home on the Upper Terrace.

The Danish artist Gerda Wegener (1885-1940) recently received attention when the film The Danish Girl was shown at cinemas throughout the world. The Swedish actress Alicia Vikander played Gerda Wegener, and received an Oscar for her role. In the exhibition, produced by the Arken Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, Wegener’s paintings depicting elegant and sensual women are displayed. As a female artist, she portrayed the beauty of women with equal parts empathy, understanding and fascination.

She married the landscape painter Einar Wegener, today better known as Lili Elbe, a transgender woman. Lili was Gerda Wegener’s model and art became their free space. The exhibition raises issues on artistic practices that break with the traditional gender relations between painter, muse and model.