Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Lake Keitele 

Experience the timeless charm of Lake Keitele in Malva’s Roots – Treasures from the Collections exhibition. 

Lake Keitele is the crown jewel of Malva’s art collection. Akseli Gallen-Kallela painted this lyrical Finnish lake landscape in 1905 after spending the summer on the shores of Lake Keitele in Konginkangas. The horizon is placed high in the composition, with the water’s surface filling most of the picture plane, while the rolling contours of the opposite shore are outlined in dark silhouette against the sky. The cloudy sky and the forests on Haapasaari Island are mirrored in the lake, which is crisscrossed by silver-grey streaks created by gusts of wind. These form a rhythmic zigzag pattern that Gallen-Kallela himself described as “the wake of the bard Väinämöinen’s boat”. The painting’s tranquil atmosphere is reinforced by its subdued, cool-toned palette. 

Lake Keitele possesses a captivating, timeless quality, inviting the viewer to linger, reflect, and interpret. 

Summer in Konginkangas 

Akseli Gallen-Kallela and his family spent the summer of 1904 in Konginkangas, amid the lakelands of Central Finland. The family’s summer residence, Lintula Villa, offered sweeping views of Lake Keitele from its porch. Gallen-Kallela depicted the lake and its surrounding landscapes in several paintings that summer and returned to the subject in later years as well. 

Four versions of Lake Keitele 

There are four nearly identical versions of Lake Keitele. The earliest, dating from 1904, is owned by a private collector but is on deposit at the Gallen-Kallela Museum in Espoo. The versions owned by Malva and the National Gallery in London were completed a year later. The fourth was painted in 1906 and is currently held in the collection of the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. 

Lake Keitele is the most frequently loaned work from Malva’s art collection. It has been exhibited widely both in Finland and internationally, including across all the Nordic countries, France, and the United States. In 2017 and 2018, it was displayed in London alongside the three other versions. 

Lake Keitele’s journey to Lahti 

Lake Keitele is signed and dated 1905. The City of Viipuri (Vyborg) acquired the work the following year from an exhibition organised by the Viipuri Friends of Art Association. It was initially displayed in Viipuri Town Hall and later relocated to the newly founded Viipuri Art Museum in 1930. 

When the Winter War broke out in 1939, the painting was again moved, along with Viipuri’s other art treasures, to the safety of the Peura Museum in Rautalampi. It remained there until 1950, when a total of 70 works, including Lake Keitele, were relocated to Lahti. 

Today, Lake Keitele forms part of Malva’s Viipuri Collection. The work is owned by the Viipuri Foundation and is on permanent deposit at Malva. 

The version now on display 

Lake Keitele is currently featured in Malva’s Roots – Treasures from the Collections exhibition, which offers an intriguing overview of highlights from the museum’s own collections. The exhibition title underscores the significance of Malva’s collections – they are indeed the ‘roots’ from which all the museum’s work grows.