
Helmi Biese. Vue de la crête de Pyynikki, 1900. Oil on canvas, 91 x 115 cm. Finnish National Gallery, Ateneum Kunstmuseum, Hoving Collection. Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Aleks Talve

Edvard Munch, Train Smoke, 1900. Oil on canvas, 84,5 x 109 cm. Courtesy of Munchmuseet, Oslo / Halvor Bjørngå
The boreal forest — one of the world’s largest primeval forests, expanding north and south of the Arctic Circle — was the common source of inspiration for the 13 artists from Scandinavia, Finland and Canada whose work will be exhibited in “Northern Lights” at Fondation Beyeler. For the first time in this configuration, the exhibition will feature masterpieces, dating from 1880 to 1930, by Hilma af Klint, Akseli Gallen-Kallela or Edvard Munch among lesser known positions such as Anna Boberg, Harald Oskar Sohlberg or Iwan Schichkin.