Red & Black Week: Eero Järnefelt's portrait of his son

Red & Black Week is almost over, so it would be a shame if I was to break my own theme, eventhough it was not intended. So here is yet another artist and a painting from the end of 19th century.

Eero Järnefelt (1863-1937) is a member of a famous Finnish family, where are a lot of artists and other significant persons. Eero Järnefelt himself was an artist and a professor. He happens to be born at the same year as Edvard Munch, whom I was talking in the previous post, so there is an anniverasy exhibition of him too, in the Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki.



Source

The painting I would like to introduce to you is the Portrait of artist's son (1897). The son's name is Heikki and his shirt is black and we can see some red flowers behind him. I guess you all noticed how the son's face is painted with care, and as contrast the flowers in background are made with more vibrant brushstrokes, just like Monet's Camille and her dog in the previous post.

During the 19th century national romanticism was a big hit, especially in Finland. I must confess I like that era really much, especially since during the last decade of that century all other countries and most of all in French art could be seen more and more shades decadence. This makes an interesting contrast, because in Finland people admired France most of all, but at the same time wanted to construct an idealistic picture of Finnish people as a nation, most of all to those everyday Finnish citizens. So, Finnish artists were encouraged to go to Paris and absorb influance, but none of that decadence was to be seen! This made the decadent aspect of Finnish art downplayed in the publicity, but it doesn't mean it is not there. Perhaps that is something that would need it's own post. :) Thank you for reading and do check the other participants of Red & Black Week too!