Museum #3

This weekend I visited my third museum in Helsinki. It was the Ateneum, part of the Finnish National Gallery. It houses the biggest collection of Finnish art in the country.

One of the highlights of the exhibit was Hugo Simberg's The Wounded Angel (1903), voted as Finland's painting. Simberg was adamant that he not provide the interpretation of the painting to its viewers. As a result, people get to see what they want to see in it.

For an interesting discussion of some possible interpretations, see AmbivaBlog. I especially like the post and subsequent discussion: "Oh, please, I think the answer is obvious: the boys are going to cook and eat the angel."