Abstract
This article contributes to the understanding of relations between occulture and Decadence in Finnish art at the turn of the twentieth century, focussing on occulture and Decadence in the works of the Finnish artist Oscar Parviainen (1880–1938). The aim is to understand what are the relations between Parviainen's art, the Decadent art movement and occulture, and what are the aspects and cultural phenomena of his time that share similar lines of thought as Parviainen? In which ways did Parviainen address questions of higher truths about human existence, and what kind of role did they play in his thinking?
Highlights
Oscar Parviainen (1880–1938) was a Finn ish artist whose career extended from the late 1890s to the early 1930s
Parviainen grew up in a wealthy and cosmopol itan family in Helsinki. Against his fam ily’s expectations he started to pursue the career of an artist and studied at a number of art schools, the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris to name just one, but did not finish at any of them. Despite his notable edu cation, personal relationships with the art world elite, and his extensive production of interesting works, he never became a dis tinguished figure in the Finnish art scene or its art-historical canon, which is partly a consequence of him hardly ever enter ing into exhibitions or selling his paintings, combined with his tendency to stay for long periods of time abroad
Parviainen had many paradise themes connected to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve and The Fall of Man, but this stands out, since it does not have any apparent link to the bib lical stories. Such liberal depic tions inspired by biblical origins were quite common in Finnish Symbolism, and they had a connection to esotericism, Satanism and Decadent poetry, which I have no space here to discuss
Summary
This article contributes to the understanding of relations between occulture and Decadence in Finnish art at the turn of the twentieth century, focussing on occulture and Decadence in the works of the Finnish artist Oscar Parviainen (1880–1938). The aim is to understand what are the relations between Parviainen's art, the Decadent art movement and occulture, and what are the aspects and cultural phenomena of his time that share similar lines of thought as Parviainen? In which ways did Parviainen address questions of higher truths about human existence, and what kind of role did they play in his thinking?
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