Helsinki Spring Sale presents several works by Tove Jansson

› Tove Jansson, "Still Life by the Sea". Estimate: 20 000 – 30 000 EUR.

In recent years, Bukowskis has sold several works by Tove Jansson for world record prices and top results. We now present a collection of exquisite artworks by the artist in this autumn's Helsinki Winter Sale online auction.

Tove Jansson spent her summers from childhood in the Pellinki archipelago outside Porvoo, which became the most beloved and significant place in the artist's life. In Pellinki, the days were devoted to outdoor life, and here Jansson learned to admire the phenomena of nature, whose exciting moods are already reflected in her childhood diaries and later in the Moomin stories.

The Jansson family rented their first summer house from the local Gustafsson family. The families were close and one summer Tove Jansson's father, Viktor "Faffan" Jansson, used the Gustafsson's boathouse as his studio. Gustafsson's son Albert became a close and lifelong friend to Tove. When Albert's daughter got married, Tove Jansson gave the newlyweds a still life, painted in Albert's boathouse, with artist's materials placed on the work table. The sea is visible through the window in the background. The work shows a lushness typical of Jansson's still lifes from the 1940s and 1950s, but at the same time the colour palette is coolly calm.

› Tove Jansson, Abstract Landscape, 1962. Estimate: 30 000 – 40 000 EUR.

During the war years, the Moomin stories served as a way for Jansson to escape the demanding reality, and through them, one can see how she conveyed the gloomy atmosphere of the time. " Comet in Moominland" depicts the anticipation of a natural disaster and the fear of destruction, reflecting the threatening global situation at the time of writing. Perhaps the ominous sight of the forest fire also served as inspiration for " Comet in Moominland", which Jansson wrote intensely during that period.

During the 1950s, Tove Jansson's art took a step towards a more abstract direction. The transition, partly influenced by expectations from the surrounding art world, was facilitated by the fact that Jansson had not previously strived to depict reality in a fully realistic manner. Even though the motifs were simplified and stylized, the narrator could not or did not want to entirely abandon representation. In the two works now for sale, dated 1962, one can still recognize underlying elements referring to reality amidst the abstraction and rhythmic composition – in one, a studio with a desk and a painting leaning against the wall, and in the other, abundant nature and city buildings bathed in strong light and shadows.