Ellen Thesleff

Ellen Thesleff was born in Helsinki on October 5, 1869. Studying at the Académie Colarossi in Paris alongside Helene Schjerfbeck, Thesleff won international acclaim at the 1900 Paris Exposition with her delicate, haunting symbolist painting Thyra.

Living between Florence and her summer studio in Murole, Finland, Thesleff evolved into a revolutionary colorist, using loose, ecstatic, shimmering brushstrokes that captured pure Mediterranean sunlight and northern lakes. She mastered Japanese-style color woodcuts, remaining a radical avant-garde pioneer into her eighties.