Flame carpet

Although a painter, Gallen-Kallela designed a certain number of decorative art models - woodwork, furniture, hangings, rugs, fabrics, fireplace - presented in the Finnish pavilion of the 1900 Paris Exposition. The exhibited objects included Gallen-Kallela’ wall hanging, The Flame, which later became an icon of Scandinavian design. It was produced by the workshop of the Suomen Käsity�n Ystävät (Friends of Finnish Handicrafts), created in Helsinki in 1879 to perpetuate national traditions and rural skills.

The somewhat modified copy in the Mus�e d’Orsay corresponds to a later version, created in 1905-1906.