Welcome on journey of discovery to the collections of the Gallen-Kallela Museum

The collections of the Gallen-Kallela Museum consist of works of art, objects, buildings, Akseli and Mary Gallen-Kallela’s home library and archive materials.

The Gallen-Kallela Museum is located in Espoo, on the shores of Laajalahti Bay, in the studio castle Tarvaspää, designed by the artist himself.

The art collection highlights Akseli Gallen-Kallela's versatility as an artist. It comprises more than 250 oil paintings, over 550 drawings and sketches as well as almost the complete collection of Gallen-Kallela's graphic art. In addition, the collection includes applied graphic art, such as posters, as well as reliefs, sculptures and various works of applied arts by Gallen-Kallela, along with some works by other artists.

The museum's cultural-historical collection is based on materials owned and collected by Akseli Gallen-Kallela. It reflects the everyday life of the family and events in the artist's life. The cultural-historical collection includes some of the artist’s tools, Gallen-Kallela’s and his family’s personal belongings as well as household objects and furniture. Gallen-Kallela, who was interested in cultures, collected ethnological artefacts and curiosities both in Finland and abroad.

The archives collection consists of documents on Akseli Gallen-Kallela and his family as well as letters, receipts, press cuttings and photographs. The Gallen-Kallela Museum has published a part of the archives collection on Finna: the correspondence between Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Johannes Öhquist with digital copies of letters that are part of the correspondence but owned by the National Archives of Finland. The publication of the correspondence became reality thanks to the Kalevala Society, the National Archives of Finland, the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (SLS) and the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland. In 2021, the Kalevala Society donated the Gallen-Kallela Museum 65 letters and cards sent by Akseli Gallen-Kallela to Johannes Öhquist.

The Gallen-Kallela Museum publishes its materials on Finna as high-resolution images with a CC BY 4.0 licence, which means that the images can be used freely, but the user needs to mention the creators, the source and the owner of the material (the Gallen-Kallela Museum if nothing else is mentioned). In connection with works of art and objects, the name of the photographer needs to be mentioned, too.

Welcome on a discovery!