1879 -1955 · Finland and expressionism of the November Group

Angular faces, earthy colors and collective fervor make Tyko Sallinen a pioneer of Finnish expressionism.

Tyko Konstantin Sallinen was born in Nurmes, Finland in 1879 and died in Helsinki in 1955. Son of a tailor deeply marked by Laestadianism, he grew up in a strict religious climate and left his family young. A traveling tailor, he then studied at the drawing school of the Finnish Society of Fine Arts between 1902 and 1906. Stays in Paris introduced him to Fauvism, Van Gogh and modern French painting; his palette became free, but retained earth tones and a voluntary harshness. His first wife Helmi Vartiainen, nicknamed Mirri, became the model for numerous portraits. In Mirri, the angular face, the massive black and the absence of flattery give intimacy an almost monumental tension. In 1916, Sallinen participated in the founding of the November Group, which brought together Finnish artists around expressionism and cubism. The Women of Hihhulit, painted in 1918, transforms memories of the Laestadian meetings of his childhood into a scene of collective fervor: tight bodies, rough faces and frontal rhythm express psychic experience more than appearance. After the 1920s and stays in the south of France, its color became lighter; landscapes, portraits and religious subjects nevertheless extend its robust language. After the 1920s and stays in the south of France, its color became clearer; landscapes, portraits and religious subjects nevertheless extend its robust language. After the 1920s and stays in the south of France, its color became clearer; landscapes, portraits and religious subjects nevertheless extend its robust language. After the 1920s and stays in the south of France, its color became clearer; landscapes, portraits and religious subjects nevertheless extend its robust language. After the 1920s and stays in the south of France, its color became clearer; landscapes, portraits and religious subjects nevertheless extend its robust language. After the 1920s and stays in the south of France, its color became clearer; landscapes, portraits and religious subjects nevertheless extend its robust language. After the 1920s and stays finnish. The "Tyko Sallinen" selection notably compares Mirri and Les Femmes de Hihhulit. His reading favors composition.

Sallinen refuses easy elegance: color and distortion give faces the weight of lived experience.