“Naturalism was the starting point in my youth and I have become accustomed to exploring things in a truthful way. This sets the right tone and the right basis for the pursuit itself. One cannot imagine there being a better truth than truth itself”

The artistic career of Lennart Segerstråle ( 1892 - 1975) stretches over a period of more than six decades during which he was able to express the entire span of his creative ability. Versatility became the trademark of his work and he took an interest in many different forms of artistic technique. Fresco painting with its rich tradition would become his greatest challenge.

However, his artistic starting point is to be found in nature and in bird painting. He has described how, as a child, he was allowed to try painting with left-over paints from his mother Hanna Frosterus-Segerstråle’s palette. The stiff-legged ringed rover he created gave him the first meaningful spark!

For Lennart Segerstråle, nature always held a pivotal position as a source of inspiration. Nature also constituted the starting point for his choice of career - with the slight exception that he studied to be a forester before his painting reached a level of sustenance.

Segerstråle looked for motives in the wooded wildernesses and out in the archipelago. He was interested in large birds, among which eagles and forest birds, geese and above all the whooper swan became his typical motives.

The seagulls nesting on the shores near his summer studio in the Porvoo archipelago became another recurring motive.

In the perception of his motives, by catching the fleeting, spontaneous situations as they appear, Segerstråle’s approach is similar to that of a nature photographer. The paintings evolved from simple studies in his sketchbook to more detailed sketches in watercolor or oil and eventually became the final atelier productions. In terms of artistic style Segerstråle said that he was looking for the convergence point between the naturalistic and the decorative.

In this regard he deviated from the bird painting typical of the period. During his time, the predominant characteristics were richness of detail and static composition.

Matias Uusikylä