A new exhibition presenting Helene Schjerfbeck's works with the theme Silence has opened at Riemu Museums

The exhibition space dedicated to Helene Schjerfbeck's works features Schjerfbeck's works from the Tatjana and Pentti Wähäjärvi collection of the Riihimäki Art Museum, with periodically changing hangings and themes. The works, which opened to the public on May 6, are presented under the theme Silence.

The exhibition features, among other things, the work Factory Workers on the Road to Work/Unfinished Self-Portrait, which was recently on loan to The Met in New York. In addition to Schjerfbeck's works, a work by H. Ahtela (Einar Reuter) from the Riihimäki Art Museum's collection is also on display. The piano piece performed by Izumi Tateno is Erkki Melartin's (1875–1937) composition Den tysta skogen (The Quiet Forest, Op. 98 No. 1), which the composer once dedicated to Helene Schjerfbeck.

Silence in the art of Helene Schjerfbeck

In the numerous works of Helene Schjerfbeck (1862–1946), silence is at some level present in the subjects, the reduced formal language, the restrained use of colors, and the atmosphere of the works. It is implicitly present in many of the artist's modernist paintings, which express a more reduced expression, in which only the essential is presented, such as in works that express the inner world of experience of the depicted or the author.

Schjerfbeck has depicted many of his paintings of people, often just one or two at a time, absorbed and silent, reading, doing crafts or just sitting lost in their own thoughts. The people depicted have focused their gaze downwards – or rather inwards – closing the viewer off. The atmosphere in these is serene, action and movement have stopped. The works are united by intense absorption, concentration and silence.

Many of Schjerfbeck's still lifes, which were previously also commonly called still lifes, feature fresh or slowly wilting flowers. The few landscapes that the artist painted during his lifetime are also mostly quiet views. Even the color choices, the restrained color palette, and sometimes the artist's brushwork in many of his works are associated with silence.

The exhibition texts have been written by exhibition curator Katja Vuorinen-Parm, with the exception of the text Helene Schjerfbeck and Erkki Melartin, which has been written by art historian, PhD Mari Tossavainen.

There will also be a side program related to the exhibition.

In connection with the exhibition, public tours will be organized, as well as lectures and other programs later. On Fine Arts Day, July 10, 2026, the Helene Schjerfbeck monologue will be organized at the Riemu Museums (script and role of Helene: Marika Sampio-Utriainen).