Hjalmar Hagelstam on Odd Nerdrum, Rembrandt, Florence Academy and the Failure of Finnish Painting

The young draughtsman and painter from Finland has proven his talent with narrative portraits from live model. Aiming for the Classical Greek ideal, Hjalmar Hagelstam is already well-equipped, having studied painting with Odd Nerdrum and sculpture at the Florence Academy Growing up in a country known for Sibelius and Gallen-Kallela, Hagelstam asks the following question: "Which lessons can we learn from the strange fate of 19th century Finnish painters?" As he sees it, they were rightfully concerned with Kalevala, the native, mythical epic. However their political desire to find something "national" in it, invariably led to failure. Making matters worse, influence from contemporary ideas of "progress" and styles like symbolism and impressionism only further removed their work from a truly timeless context. So what makes a universal story? And could you grip the essence of a myth by simply illustrating it? 👍✨ Support our show and get access to more than 180 exclusive posts: https://patreon.com/caveofapelles/ Chapter markers: 00:30 Introduction 01:22 Does Finnish painting exist? 02:20 How Hagelstam got interested in painting 05:06 The free art school and Odd Nerdrum 07:39 What Hagelstam saw at the auction house 09:14 FAA, storytelling and being close to nature 13:27 Intuitive vs "rational" painting method 17:43 Props: contemporary or timeless? 21:34 Naturalism and symbolism — pitfalls and strengths 28:21 Rembrandt & Greeks: Shame, forgiveness, elevation 34:16 Empathy & drama vs "everyday" motifs 41:47 Experience life to become a good painter? 45:26 Munch's Sick Child and Rembrandt's Prodigal Son 52:36 Calmness vs action and combining opposites 58:19 "The Poor Fisherman" and The Squint Test 1:02:39 Do not just illustrate the title 1:06:55 One can only set a great example 1:09:54 Recommending Florence Academy of Art? 1:11:36 How to become more mythical in your motifs? This episode featured Hjalmar Hagelstam & Jan-Ove Tuv and was filmed and edited by Bork Nerdrum. The centerpiece was "Breath" by Hjalmar Hagelstam (portrait of the poet Thomas Løland). SHOUTOUT to our TOP SPONSORS! Fergus Ryan Shaun Roberts Matthias Proy Børge Moe Eivind Josten Would you like to get premium access? Become a patron: https://patreon.com/caveofapelles/ Subscribe to our newsletter. It is the only way to make sure that you receive content from us on a regular basis: https://bit.ly/2L8qCNn Check out our other channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/SchoolofApelles https://www.youtube.com/c/CultureWarsNow Podcast available on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spotify: https://soundcloud.com/caveofapelles https://spoti.fi/2AVDkcT https://apple.co/2QAcXD6 Visit our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caveofapelles Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/CaveOfApelles For inquiries — [email protected]