Visual arts|Art historian Tuula Karjalainen says that Tove Jansson sold almost all of her works to private individuals. That’s why there are still a lot of them in private families.
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A previously unknown Tove Jansson’s painting View from Töölönlahti is being sold at the Bukowskis auction in Helsinki.
The work, completed in 1941, has been inherited by a family from Helsinki, and it has not been brought to the public before.
Art historian Tuula Karjalainen says that Tove Jansson sold almost all of her works to private individuals, and that is why many of them are still in private families.
In Helsinki By Bukowski sold at auction previously unknown Tove Jansson’s painting. The name of the painting completed in 1941 is View from Töölönlahti. The starting price of the work is 4,000–50,000 euros, and by Friday 30,000 euros had been offered for the painting. The auction ends on Sunday.
The painting from Helsinki ended up at the auction Mia Ravander’s family possession. Ravander says that the piece has been passed down as a legacy in his family over the decades.
“Mother’s great aunt Thyra Sofia Hanemann bought the painting from Tove when they both lived in Katajanokka. Thyra bequeathed the painting to my mother in 1964,” says Ravander.
According to Ravander, the painting has not been seen in public before because his mother did not agree to lend it to any exhibition.
“Yes, they tried, especially my daughter tried.”
When 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of Tove Jansson’s birth, and a celebratory exhibition was organized at the Ateneum, which presented Jansson’s extensive career in various art forms. The exhibition included many previously unseen works from several private collections – but not the Töölönlahti view that was on the wall of Ravander’s mother’s home.
“My mother didn’t want to give it away, because the painting was an important heirloom gift from Aunt Thyra, which was so valuable to her.”
Ravander and his brother inherited the work last spring after their mother’s death. In recent years, the painting was hung on the wall of the amnesiac mother’s room in the service building.
“Yes, it was terrible when it was hanging there. I thought many times about telling my brother if I should take out insurance.”
Neither of the siblings wanted to claim the painting for themselves after their mother’s death.
“Didn’t even really know its value. At what price would someone else redeem it? At an auction, it will now be valued.”
According to Ravander, the purchase order stated 50 euros for the painting.
“I don’t know if it was an estimate or a purchase price.”
Ravander admits that giving up the painting feels sad, because it has always been part of their home.
Jansson (1914–2001) depicts the Töölönlahti view very colorfully in his painting. Art historian Tuula Karelian says that Jansson painted a lot of city views.
“He made a lot of flowers, his friends and self-portraits and the landscape wherever he was, i.e. Helsinki and the archipelago. Helsinki is quite nicely depicted by him,” says Karjalainen.
When the work that is now being auctioned was completed, Jansson was a little under 30 years old.
“He already had a long experience and education at that point, because he started it at the age of 16.”
Currently in the auction another one for sale Tove Jansson’s work, A soldier in a winter landscape. It is said to be related to a series that included at least seven different wartime subjects that Jansson made for Oy Taidekorttikeskus ab in the 1940s. Its starting price is 4,000–5,000 euros.
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“”There are still many of Tove’s works in private families.”
Karelian is the former director of the Helsinki Art Museum and Kiasma, who was the curator of Jansson’s jubilee exhibition in 2014.
“There were an awful lot of works from private individuals in the exhibition. It was quite a big job precisely because there aren’t that many of those works in museums. Most of the works came from private individuals because the museums didn’t buy them,” says Karjalainen.
“Tove sold almost all the works to private individuals, either from exhibitions or directly.”
That is exactly why, according to Karjalainen, it is very possible that View from Töölönlahti cannot be found in any official registers of works.
“There are still many of Tove’s works in private families. It’s nothing special. Then when they go on sale, they become public,” says Karjalainen.
“The only important thing is that the work is Tove’s and it is genuine. It doesn’t matter if the work has been in the public eye or not. It’s always good when more of Tove’s work can be found.”