HUGO SIMBERG
1873 Hamina – 1917 Ähtäri
SATU METSÄSSÄ – A FAIRY TALE IN THE FOREST
etching on paper, plate 245 x 162 mm
signed and dated lower right: Hugo Simberg 98
date: 1898
literature:
Heikki Malme, Hugo Simberg, Grafiikaa: Teosluettelo, 1989, no. 13.
Satu Metsässä presents a quiet, enigmatic scene set within a wooded landscape. At the center, a young woman in a simple dress sits astride a fantastical creature resembling a lion with a pointed face at the edge of a small body of water. Nearby stands a second, smaller animal with a pointed face. All three figures direct their gaze toward the water, where a frog with outstretched limbs appears to engage them, suggesting a moment of communication.
The composition is notably still, lending the scene a contemplative, dreamlike quality. The background is formed by a dense arrangement of slender, vertical tree trunks, whose repetition creates a rhythmic structure and a sense of spatial depth. These trees are rendered schematically, emphasizing atmosphere over detail.
In the foreground, the water partially reflects the figures, adding a further layer of visual complexity and reinforcing the work’s introspective mood. The muted palette of earth tones and grays contributes to the overall sense of quiet melancholy and symbolic resonance.
The fantastical, fairy tale–like imagery of Hugo Simberg does not convey literal narratives but instead functions as a series of symbolic and poetic images addressing existential and spiritual themes. Working within the context of Symbolism, Simberg drew upon folklore, religion, and imagination to give visual form to emotions and ideas that resist direct representation.
His imagery also reflects a distinctly Northern European sensibility, in which nature, silence, and inner experience play a central role. Rather than illustrating traditional fairy tales, Simberg’s works can be understood as visual allegories of the human condition, where the everyday and the supernatural merge seamlessly.
Simberg’s fairy tale imagery contributed to the broader search for national identity around 1900. Drawing on local myths and traditions, his work distinguishes itself from international artistic movements while remaining closely aligned with the concerns of Symbolism, particularly its focus on dreams and inner experience. As such, these fairy tale elements are not presented as simple children’s narratives, but as poetic and often enigmatic vehicles for expressing the human condition.
Hugo Simberg was a Finnish Symbolist painter and graphic artist, widely regarded as one of the leading figures of Finnish Symbolism. Born in Hamina, he studied in Viipuri and Helsinki before training between 1895 and 1897 under Akseli Gallen-Kallela, whose interest in folklore and National Romanticism strongly influenced his work. Travels to cities such as London, Paris, and Italy further shaped his artistic development.
Simberg developed a distinctive visual language combining folklore, spirituality, and themes of death and renewal, often expressed through recurring figures such as devils, angels, and personifications of death. Among his most notable works are The Garden of Death (1896) and The Wounded Angel (1903). His frescoes for Tampere Cathedral (1905–1906), though initially controversial, secured his reputation. Simberg died in 1917 at the age of 44, leaving a body of work that continues to define the poetic and symbolic character of Finnish art around 1900.