Karelianism was a late 19th-century cultural phenomenon in the Grand Duchy of Finland and involved writers, painters, poets and sculptors.
By the end of the 19th century Karelianism had become a major trend for many works of art and literature in Finland.
They were soon joined by the sculptor Emil Wikström, the writers Juhani Aho, Eino Leino and Ilmari Kianto, the composers Jean Sibelius and P.J.
[1] Later, towards the Second World War, some of the ideas of Karelianism were taken over by an irredentist movement aspiring to create a larger Finland.
Thus some of the ideas put forward by Karelianism were used as a motivation for the proposal of a Greater Finland, a single state encompassing many Baltic Finns.