norman lebrecht
January 10, 2026
Here is a virtual exploration of a new exhibition at the Met.  Join Dita Amory, Curator Robert Lehman, Max Hollein and Marina Kellen for a close look at Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck.
Beloved in Nordic countries for her highly original style, Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck (1862–1946) is relatively unknown to the rest of the world. Overcoming immense personal struggles and working in a remote location for decades, she produced a powerful body of work through sheer force of will.
This exhibition affirms her rightful place in the story of modern art. Following Schjerfbeck’s journey from art school in Paris to her final days in Sweden, the exhibition illustrates her shift from traditional and realistic subjects to a simplified, spare style.
In the early 1900s, using her mother and neighbours as models, she painted abstractly, paring down her subjects in form and color and developing a bold, new language. Seeing Silence illuminates Schjerfbeck as a valuable voice of modernism.
On the other side of the Atlantic a retrospective exhibition of  Helene Schjerfbeck’s paintings was shown at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2019, London.