Lake Keitele

In spring 1904, Axel Gallén, who was suffering from malaria, returned with his family from a trip to Vienna and Spain that had lasted several months. He rented a summer home called Lintula in Konginkangas. Behind him were large fresco paintings and several exhibitions at home and abroad. Now he longed for fresh air and simple country life to counterbalance the pulse of urban living and the sophisticated socialising of art circles.

The painting Lake Keitele is one of the interpretations of a bright summer day created at Lintula. As a counterbalance to the bright works, the artist also painted dark-toned, melancholic landscapes. The summer at Lintula spent with his family was a flash of light before the depressing information that arrived in the autumn about the destruction of the frescoes in the Juselius Mausoleum.

In Lake Keitele, the clarity of the summer-time lakescape and the unique light of the northern summer are brought out by small techniques. The manner of painting is synthesising – discarding and stylising details. The calmness of the lake is broken by the wake of a boat on the surface of the water – the presence of humankind. The simple ensemble gains depth from the reflections of the undulating background landscape and island as well as the ornate decorativeness of the fluffy clouds.