Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Akseli Gallen-Kallela, born Axel Waldemar Gallen, was a Finnish painter who lived from 26 April 1865 to 7 March 1931 and a leading figure of Finnish romantic nationalism around the turn of the 20th century. He is considered a pioneer of a distinctly Finnish national art, and his work is regarded as a very important aspect of Finnish national identity. He began his career as a realist painter influenced by Jules Bastien-Lepage before turning, in the 1890s, towards symbolism and a stylised national-romantic idiom. He is best known for his depictions of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, including The Defense of the Sampo, Lemminkainen's Mother and the Aino Triptych.