Self-Portrait

Elin Danielson-Gambogi's Self-Portrait is a work of great self-confidence. The painting shows the artist in her studio, holding a palette and brush. The light streams through the curtain in front of the window and creates a halo around the artist's head. Self-Portrait was one of the largest paintings of its kind in Finnish art at the time. A travel grant to Paris helped Elin Danielson make the final decision to pursue an artist's career. At the age of 38 she married a young Tuscan artist called Raffaello Gambogi and settled in Italy in 1898. King Umberto III purchased a painting of hers in 1899, and she participated in the Venice Biennale that same year. Self-Portrait earned her a silver medal in Florence in 1900. With its chiaroscuro and self-assurance, it continues on a path set by Leonardo da Vinci, with a hint of her contemporaries Puvis de Chavannes and Whistler.