Ellen Thesleff

Place: Helsinki

Born: 1869

Death: 1954

Biography:

Ellen Thesleff was an expressionist Finnish painter, regarded as one of the leading Finnish modernist painters.
Thesleff was born in Helsinki, the eldest daughter of five siblings and her father was an amateur painter. She took private lessons and then, in 1887, studied for two years at the Finnish Art Society Drawing School (now known as the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts) with Gunnar Berndtson. In 1891, Tesleff moved to Paris and enrolled into Académie Colarossi.
Thesleff spent all of her life in Finland, France, and Italy, visiting Italy first in 1894. In Finland, she had a family estate at Murole, Ruovesi. She never married. Thesleff took part in many big exhibitions in the 20th century, in particular, in 1949 her paintings were on display on a big exhibition of Nordic art in Copenhagen and were praised by media.
At the beginning of her career, Thesleff worked on symbolist paintings in the style similar to Eugène Carrière, though she insisted she was most influenced by Édouard Manet. Later, she moved to expressionism and modernism, most notably landscapes.

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