[3] He began his higher studies at the Polytechnic Institute (now the Helsinki University of Technology).

[1] By 1876, he had made the decision to be an artist, so he went to Paris, where he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts and studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme.

During his stay, he became part of a group centered around Albert Edelfelt (they had been friends since youth) and was influenced by the Salon style of painting.

[1][4] From 1882 to 1883, he visited Egypt[3] as the guest of Alphonse, Baron Delort de Gléon (1843-1899), a mining engineer.

He settled in the French community there, painting portraits and providing illustrations, as a correspondent, for Le Monde illustré.