Karelianism

Karelianism was a cultural phenomenon of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the late 19th century that writers, painters, poets and sculptors einbezog. Since the publication of the national epic Kalevala in 1835, the interest of artists rose to the heritage and the landscape area of Karelia. With the end of the 19th century Karelianism was a main flow in the Finnish art and literature. In this movement, a glorification of Karelia took place and was understood as a refuge for the nature of the Finnish national consciousness and identity.

The painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Louis Sparre are typically referred to as the founder of Karelianism. Soon thereafter, the sculptor Emil Wikström, the writer Juhani Aho, the journalist and poet Eino Leino, Ilmari Kianto, the composer Jean Sibelius and Pekka Juhani Hannikainen well as the architects Yrjö Blomstedt and Victor Sucksdorff joined the Karelianism. The flow continued into the 1920s and came during the Second World War again, as an irredentist movement wanted to create a large Finland.