[1] She participated enthusiastically in the new trends which reached Finland's art scene in the early 20th century, embracing Impressionism, Functionalism and Cubism.
[2][3] Born in Helsinki on 19 February 1899, Hällfors-Sipilä first studied at Läroverket för gossar och flickor and after graduating at the Finnish Art Society's Drawing School from 1915 to 1917.
Participants included painters from the German group Der Blaue Reiter, the Swedes Isaac Grünewald and Sigrid Hjertén, and the Russian Wassily Kandinsky, all of whom thrilled Hällfors-Sipilä with their free touch and bright colours.
A competent pianist, she studied at the Helsinki Music Institute from the 1910s to the 1930s, developing a common interest in Modernism with her friend Sulho Sipilä (1895–1949) whom she had met at art school when she was 16.
Adopting the nicknames Tiva and Halle, they lived in the centre of Helsinki near St. John's Church which they both often depicted in their paintings.