In the Drawing Room at Haikko, study for An Old Tune

In the Drawing Room at Haikko, study for An Old Tune (1888) by Albert Edelfelt, now in the collection of Ateneum, depicts an interior setting, placing the artist within the tradition of intimate domestic painting that connects the Dutch Golden Age masters to 19th-century Realism. Albert Edelfelt was Finland's most internationally celebrated painter of the 19th century, achieving recognition at the Paris Salon at an early age and winning a Legion of Honor. Trained in Antwerp and Paris where he befriended Jules Bastien-Lepage and the naturalist circle, he brought French plein-air techniques back to Finland, applying them to Finnish landscapes, seascapes.

Edelfelt painted with a bright, clear palette and confident outdoor brushwork influenced by his training in Paris. His plein-air works capture Finnish summer light — sharp, clear, with long horizontal shadows — with Impressionist freshness.