1862–1946

Helene Schjerfbeck

Helene Schjerfbeck was born in Helsinki and studied there and in Paris, also working in Brittany and Cornwall. Her early academic works, such as The Convalescent (1888), won acclaim. From the 1900s she lived quietly in Hyvinkää and later Tammisaari, developing a pared-down modernist style. She is best known for her long series of self-portraits, which grow increasingly spare toward the end of her life. She died in Sweden in 1946.

Where to see Helene Schjerfbeck: Städel Museum (1 work).

Public-domain works: Girl with Blonde Hair, 1916.