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“Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck” at the Met; The first Finnish artist solo exhibition in the U.S.

The cultural scene in Manhattan has a new hot and trendy topic, and it is none other than Finland's beloved 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗷𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗸 (1862–1946). Her collection, “Seeing Silence: the Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck”, is now displayed at 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸, making her the first Finnish artist to have a major solo exhibition in the U.S.

Schjerfbeck was born in 1862 in Helsinki and spent most of her life in Finland close to her hometown. As a young child, Schjerfbeck fell and broke her hip, which led to a lifelong limp. After that she needed new ways to entertain herself and her father, an amateur artist, brought her pencils and watercolors. This was the start of her career and the beginning to one of the Nordic countries’ most successful, outstanding and inspiring female painters. At the age of just 11, Schjerfbeck won a place to study at the Finnish Art Society’s drawing school, and at the age of 17, she won a prize for her painting Wounded Warrior in the Snow and she was able to move to Paris to study at Académie Colarossi. Before moving back to Finland in the beginning of the 20th century.

The exhibition consists of 56 paintings, with a majority of them being self-portraits. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Met and the Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum, and other museums and private collections from both Finland and Sweden.

Some of her most famous art pieces are Self-Portrait with Black Backroud (1915),The Convalescent (1888) and The Lace Shawl (1920). The Lace Shawl was purchased by the Met in 2023, and became the first of her art pieces to have its home in the U.S. according to the Met. Schjerfbeck's maturing can be seen throughout her career when comparing art pieces from different years of her life, and is seen as a journey from naturalism to expressionism. Towards her later years you can for example see more of a pale colour palette and the art pieces are often described as Nordic noir. That is no surprise since they were painted during the Second World War, which likely affected her work.

Like most successful painters, Helene Schjerfbeck is unfortunately not alive to see her success nor her praised art collection at the Met. But her memory lives on and we can fortunately still take part of her amazing collection that is displayed at 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲.

Exhibition Dates: December 5, 2025 - April 5, 2026

Exhibition Location: The Met fifth Avenue, Gallery 964