Pekka Halonen

Pekka Halonen (23 September 1865 – 1 December 1933) was a Finnish painter of landscapes and people in the national romantic and Realist styles.

Halonen's father was himself an amateur artist who not only ran the farm, but also worked as a decorative painter on commissions from churches in neighbouring districts.

He had an early interest in Symbolism, but Gauguin's decorative Synthetism, as well as Japanese woodcuts, had a deeper impression on his work.

When at the beginning of the 20th century Finland's existence was threatened, Halonen strove to foster a sense of national pride through symbolic interpretations of the Finnish landscape.

In Tuusula Halonen had a wide circle of artist friends and relatives which provided him with a daily source of social and cultural stimulation.

[11] On the shores of the lake where he resided an artists' community flourished, helping to develop a sense of Finnish national identity.

Halonen in 1890–1891
Portrait of Halonen, homesick in Paris and playing the kantele , by Eero Järnefelt , 1891
Double Portrait , Halonen and his wife Maija, 1895
Self-Portrait , 1906 ( fi )
Woman in a Red Dress , 1911, depicting his daughter Anni
Grave of Halonen and his wife by the Tuusula Church
Log Drivers , 1925