Lemminkäinen's Mother

After completing Aino Myth, Gallen-Kallela developed a new style for his Kalevala-themed works. The model in this emotionally highly charged picture, with its reductive stylisation and large areas of flat colour, was the artist’s own mother. In the story, warrior and womaniser Lemminkäinen dies because he has tried to kill the swan of Tuonela. His mother rakes the pieces of his son’s body from the river and puts them back together. In this picture, she tries to revive him and receives a glimmer of hope in the form of the rays of sunlight that penetrate the gloom of Tuonela. A bee brings the balm of life from the abode of the gods, and a miracle happens: Lemminkäinen opens his eyes and is once again alive.