To bed by Elin Danielson-Gambogi

Elin Danielson-Gambogi was a Finnish painter best known for realist paintings. Although some of her works are impressionists, she painted in both styles indiscriminately throughout her artistic life.

She was part of the “painters sisters’ generation”, which was the first generation of Finnish women artists who received professional art education. In 1883 she went to Paris and took lessons at the Académie Colarossi, few years later she returned to Finland and lived with some of her relatives. During the 1880s and 1890s she worked as a teacher in many art schools of Finland. In 1895, she received a scholarship and travelled to Florence, after a year in Italy she married the Italian painter Raffaello Gambogi.

To bed

To bed is one of the most beautiful paintings of Elin Danielson-Gambogi in my opinion. By the loose brushstrokes and the subject, we can say that it’s an example of her impressionist work.

It was common during the impressionist to depict private moments of the women’s intimate life, these scenes are best known as “toilette”, very often they show women in her bedrooms dressing or brushing their hair.

The artist took us to a private space and moment, the woman is half-dressed that doesn’t know she’s being observed. The candlelight help to emphasize the intimacy of the scene.