| Print | All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted. Helene Schjerfbeck: Het geheim van Finland [ Finland's best-kept secret ] The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, 17 May–2 September 2007 Other venues of the exhibition: Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2 February–6 May 2007 Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 11 October 2007–16 January 2008 Helene Schjerfbeck Annabelle Görgen and Hubertus Gaßner (eds.), with contributions by Leena Ahtola-Moorhouse, Annabelle Görgen, Uwe M. Schneede, Fabrice Hergott, Wim van Krimpen and Maija Tanninen-Mattila. München: Hirmer Verlag GmbH, 2007. 208 pp; 120 color ills.; 149 b/w ills.; selected bibliography; list of exhibited works; chronological biography. ISBN 978-3-7774-3405-6 (German edition: € 25 - sold out); ISBN 978-3-7774-3795-8 (Dutch edition; € 29.95 - sold out); ISBN: 978-3 -7774-3605-0 (English edition - sold out). Fig. 1. View of the beginning of the exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. Fig. 2. View of the beginning of the exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. Although the Finnish Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946) is a legend in her own country, she is still virtually unknown abroad. Ninety years after her first solo exhibition at the art dealer's Gösta Stenman in Helsinki, an impressive retrospective exhibition of her work is on display for the first time outside Scandinavia, in The Hague, Hamburg and Paris. (figs. 1, 2). The Independent of London characterised her work as follows: "Imagine the life of Frida Kahlo yoked to the eye of Edvard Munch, and you'll begin to get the measure of this oeuvre…" 1 On seeing this wonderful work, one is surprised that Schjerfbeck's name has not become part of the art historical canon. During her life, Schjerfbeck was successful in Finland as well as abroad. Yet the bulk of her oeuvre is still to be found in Scandinavian private and public collections, including the eighty-nine works in the Finnish National Art Museum Ateneum in Helsinki, an important contributor to the exhibition. The exhibition's curator, Dr. Annabelle Görgen from the Hamburger Kunsthalle deserves credit for initiating this long-overdue examination of Schjerfbeck's work. The beautifully and neatly organised exhibition consists of over 120 oil paintings, water colors and drawings, from about forty international public and private collections, some of which are showing their treasures for the first time. In the pretty Gemeentemuseum, designed by architect and near-contemporary H.P. Berlage (1856-1934), the works are shown to their full effect, partly because they are not revealed all at once, as they are housed in eleven sequential, small and dimly lit (and hence intimate) rooms. They prove to be admirably suited to provide a close-up experience of Schjerfbeck's intense oeuvre (fig. 3). The simple and sober rooms have been organised thematically and largely chronologically. As indicated in twelve succinct, bilingual [Dutch and English] notices, the rooms are consecutively dedicated to Helene Schjerfbeck's Page 1 of 12 Marjan Sterckx reviews Helene Schjerfbeck: Het geheim van Finland 16/11/2009 http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/index.php?view=article&catid=40%3Aspring08re...