Pekka Halonen

Who was Pekka Halonen?

Pekka Halonen was a painter of Finnish landscapes and people. He was born in Lapinlahti. He lived with his family in a home and studio on Lake Tuusula in Tuusula, Finland that he, himself, designed and named Halosenniemi. The beautiful and serene building is now a museum that includes original furnishings and Halonen’s own art on the walls. There, on the shores of Lake Tuusula where Pekka Halonen resided, an artists’ community developed and flourished, helping to develop a sense of Finnish national identity. Halosenniemi was designed with the two story studios of Paris in mind with high ceilings and tall windows in the studio and second floor living quarters accessible by a set of stairs and a balcony that overlooked the studio. Adjacent to the house, Halonen built a sauna and, in typical Finnish tradition, the sauna also served as a laundry. Halonen stated that he never painted for anyone but himself. He felt that “Art should not jar the nerves like sandpaper – it should produce a feeling of peace.”

His father was a peasant from Lapinlahti. Halonen studied at the Art Society's drawing school in Helsinki. In 1890 he moved to Paris where he studied at the Académie Julian and later under Paul Gauguin. He died in Tuusula.