Forging of Sampo
by GALLEN-KALLELA, Akseli, Fresco
In the 1920s, he worked on two major projects, the vault frescoes of the National Museum in Helsinki (1927-28) and the illustrations for a deluxe edition of the Kalevala (Suur-Kalevala). The latter project was never completed.
In 1898 Gallen-Kallela studied fresco technique in Italy; for the Finnish pavilion at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, he executed vault frescoes with Kalevala motifs. The photo shows the central hall of the National Museum of Finland with the vault fresco depicting the Forging of Sampo, a scene from the Kalevala. It is originated in the fresco at the pavilion in Paris.