Background
Albert Gustaf Aristides Edelfelt was born on 21 July 1854 in Porvoo, Finland. He was the son of Carl Albert Edelfelt, an architect, and Alexandra Edelfelt (née Brandt).
Albert Gustaf Aristides Edelfelt was born on 21 July 1854 in Porvoo, Finland. He was the son of Carl Albert Edelfelt, an architect, and Alexandra Edelfelt (née Brandt).
He studied history painting at the Antwerp Academy of Art (1873-1874) before becoming a pupil of Jean-Léon Gérôme at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris (1874-1878). Later he studied at Saint St. Petersburg (1881-1882).
He began his formal studies of art in 1869 at the Drawing School of the Finnish Art Society, and continued as a student of Adolf von Becker (1871-1873). In Paris he shared a studio with the American, Julian Alden Weir, who introduced him to John Singer Sargent. He enjoyed considerable success in Paris and was one of the founders of the Realist art movement in Finland.
He influenced several younger Finnish painters and helped fellow Finnish artists such as Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Gunnar Berndtson to make their breakthrough in Paris.
Among his students was Léon Bakst. The company of Runeberg had a lasting impact on Edelfelt, who from time to time turned to scenes from Finnish history in his paintings.
Edelfelt went on to illustrate Runeberg"s epic poem The Tales of Ensign Stål. Albert Edelfelt was selected as the main motif in a Finnish commemorative coin celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth, the €100 Albert Edelfelt and painting commemorative coin, minted in 2004.
The reverse shows an embossed face of the artist.
Queen Blanka (1877) Duke Karl Insulting the Corpse of Klaus Fleming (1878) A Child"s Funeral (1879) Under the Birches (1881) Virginie (1883) At the sea (1883) Boys on the Shore (1884) Portrait of Louis Pasteur (1885) Women of Ruokolahti on the Church Hill (1887) The Luxembourg Garden (1887) Christ and Mataleena (1890) Porilaisten marssi (1890) Copenhagen (1890) Two women with laundry (1893) Portrait of Nicholas II of Russia (1896) Portrait of Aino Ackté (1901) Inauguration of the Academy of Turku (1904).
Edelfelt admired the poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, who was a friend of the family.