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M ore unexpected, works such as «Tomatoes» (1913) evoke domestic warmth
and the simplicity of everyday life, highlighting the artist’s diverse perspective.
Halonen was also a painter of the bond between man and his environment, a witness
to the Finnish identity under construction at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
His paintings speak to us today with new acuity, at a time when the question of pre-
serving nature in the face of global warming is emerging as a universal challenge.
Visiting «A Hymn to Finland» at the Petit Palais is like crossing
a mirror to the North, entering a luminous silence,
where each snow-covered tree becomes a sculpture and
each reflection on the ice a promise of light.
It is discovering an artist still little-known in France,
but whose work resonates with timeless power.
An invitation to see, to feel, and to marvel, as if, hidden
in Pekka Halonen’s snow, a more mysterious
and secret part of ourselves were hidden.
Pekka Halonen, Winter Light on Lake Tuusula, 1905.
Oil on canvas, 90.5 × 72 cm.
Private collection, Helsinki Finland.
© Photo Sonja Hyytiäinen