Girls in a Rowing Boat

Girls in a Rowing Boat (1886) by Albert Edelfelt, now in the collection of Ateneum, is a marine subject reflecting the 19th-century tradition of coastal painting as both documentary record and atmospheric study of light on water. Albert Edelfelt was Finland's most internationally celebrated painter of the 19th century, achieving recognition at the Paris Salon at an early age and winning a Legion of Honor. Trained in Antwerp and Paris where he befriended Jules Bastien-Lepage and the naturalist circle, he brought French plein-air techniques back to Finland, applying them to Finnish landscapes, seascapes, and scenes of Finnish rural and urban life.

Edelfelt painted with a bright, clear palette and confident outdoor brushwork influenced by his training in Paris. His plein-air works capture Finnish summer light — sharp, clear, with long horizontal shadows — with Impressionist freshness.