Beda Maria Stjernschantz (10 December 1867 — 28 May 1910) was one of the first Finnish

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

painters, whose main creative period was during the 1890s' '' fin de siècle'' epoch. Beda Stjernschantz was born in Porvoo to ( Blidberg) and his second wife Alma Charlotta Sirén. Her father was a military officer and high ranking civil servant, who also held a seat in the Nobility Chamber of the

Diet of Finland The Diet of Finland (Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riksda ...

. The family was not particularly wealthy, however, which meant that Beda Stjernschantz had to largely support herself financially, including paying for her art studies. Stjernschantz studied first at the Drawing School of the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, from 1885 to 1889, and later privately under

Gunnar Berndtson Gunnar Fredrik Berndtson (24 October 1854, Helsinki – 9 April 1895, Helsinki) was a painter from the Grand Duchy of Finland who was noted for his attention to realistic detail. Biography His father was , a well-known author, journalist and poe ...

, from 1889 to 1891. She started out as a realist, but soon after her debut exhibition in 1891, and her subsequent visit to Paris the following year, began shifting increasingly towards symbolism. In her time, Stjernschantz was not very highly regarded and, despite her relatively privileged background, struggled throughout her career with financial problems and various external pressures, isolation, as well as artistic belittling; the resulting persistent 'melancholy' eventually lead her to take her own life in 1910, at the age of 42. Due to her early death, her artistic output remains relatively small. Stjernschantz's only known international exhibition took place in Paris, in 1900. Several of her works are now in the permanent collection of the Finnish National Gallery. Stjernschantz is today regarded as a pioneer of the symbolism movement in Finland, and one of the leading artists of her time.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stjernschantz, Beda Finnish women painters Symbolist painters 19th-century Finnish painters 1867 births 1910 suicides Painters who committed suicide People from Porvoo Suicides in Finland