"Seaweed Burners" (1938) represents a period in Tove Jansson's career when she had already detached herself from her art studies at the Ateneum and was beginning to receive encouraging attention as a free artist. Her first exhibitions were already behind her and her own artistic expression was established.

In the spring of 1938, Jansson was able to use the money she had earned from her work as an illustrator and writer to go on a long-awaited study trip to Paris and Brittany. The atmosphere and artistic community in Paris meant a lot to Jansson, but an even more important step in her artistic development was the trip to Brittany, which she made alone after finishing her semester at the art school. The rugged nature and the way of life of the locals in the Breton coastal villages made an indelible impression on the young artist, and her Breton subjects came to be characterized by a stripped-down style of painting and fresh, clear colours. The seaweed reefs of Île de Sein, with the towering lighthouse in the background, were among the many Breton subjects Jansson continued to work on long after her return.