ABSTRACT
The cultural life of the nation associated with literature, theatre and music became focused on societies, the first of which was the Finnish Literature Society, founded in 1831. The Russian court approved of these nationalistic gestures, as they signalled political separation from the old mother country, Sweden. The most influential actors within the Society were the elected Chairman, Secretary and, from 1869, Keeper of the collection. Two chairmen were particularly influential in these early years: the poet and professor, Fredrik Cygnaeus and his successor, Professor Carl Gustaf Estlander. Both represented the Society and the University. Both taught aesthetics and art history at the university, and both wrote actively about art in newspapers. The nation story to be told in art was to utilise the imagery of paintings of historical scenes and landscapes, and portraits of heroic men and peasants going about their daily lives.
