Born in Turku, Finland’s oldest city, in 1877 but brought up in the town of Sauvo, Axel Haartmann would become an oil painter much inspired by the Impressionists. Details of any artistic training are unknown, but it would be unusual for a painter of this evident talent to have not had some early instruction.
In 1925 he built a large house in the town of Naantali. Designed by the famed artitect Erik Bryggman this classical building and its richly decorated interior form a unique and authentic environment. The house, dubbed Casa Haartmann, remains today as a museum of the artist’s work and that of many of his contemporaries including Victor Westerholm, Fanny Churberg, Wäinö Aaltonen and Helene Schjerfbeck . He drew inspiration from his home and the lush gardens surrounding it as well as executing several portraits of his wife Hedvig. He was not only an artist but also a writer, a critic, an illustrator and, as head of Turku Art Museum, a prominent figure in the Finnish art scene. Axel and Hedvig Haartman considered their home as Axel’s finest work of art and wanted it to be preserved in its original condition. A charity maintained Casa Haartman from 1970 to 2017. In 2017 Casa Haartman was donated to the Åbo Akademi University Foundation.
This superb example of his work dates to 1912 and is one of only a small handful of paintings executed while he was living in Paris. It illustrates Haartmann’s style and his adherence to the ideals of post-Impressionism. The previous year he had first exhibited at the Salon des Independantes.
