Lemminkäinen's Mother

Near the top of Akseli Gallen-Kallela's Lemminkäinen's Mother, a small bee is flying. The whole painting depends on it. In the Finnish epic Kalevala, Lemminkäinen has failed to kill the Swan of Tuonela, been murdered by a cowherd, and thrown into the river of the underworld in pieces. His mother has dragged the river with a rake and pulled out every fragment of him. In the painting she has just sewn the pieces back together in her lap. She is waiting for the bee to come back from the halls of the god Ukko with a single drop of the honey of life. One drop will bring her son back. Gallen-Kallela painted this in 1897, as Finland was demanding independence from the Russian Empire. Now at Ateneum, Helsinki @ateneummuseum