In 1912, he spent some time in Helsingør, Denmark, with the family of Niels-Peder Rydeng (1880-1949), a tailor and art collector who had once employed Tyko Sallinen.

[5] Back in Helsinki, he was able to sell all the paintings he had brought with him at an exhibition in the Ateneum, but spent most of the money on a drinking and partying binge.

[4] In 1915, he settled in Hyvinkää, where he and Sallinen opened adjacent studios called "Humala ja Krapula" (Drunk and Hungover).

He stayed there until 1918, when he divorced Elvira and married Saima Forsström, a model, despite his studio's financial failure.

[4] He was always successful as an artist, exhibiting throughout Scandinavia as well as Rome and Milan, but continued to squander most of his money and was never far from financial ruin.

He began producing quickly sketched pictures of simple things such as leaves, food and sunsets to earn extra income.