I had a thought: what if I dived into digital art archives, dug out absolute gems from the Golden Age of Finnish art (around the turn of the 20th century), and blended them into contemporary portraiture? The result is a series of works where modern portraits meet classic paintings by Finnish masters.

Pictorialism and Hours Spent in the Archives

About three years ago, I spent way too many hours in libraries reading up on the history of photography. That’s where I properly stumbled upon Pictorialism—an art movement from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that aimed to elevate photography into fine art, complete with soft tones, painterly textures, and expressive techniques.

The idea lingered in the back of my mind for a long time, and I knew I wanted to approach it on my own terms eventually.

Genuine Masters, 0% AI Fluff

I pieced together these compositions in Photoshop. A true art purist might lose their mind over the fact that I didn't shoot these on an authentic large-format glass plate camera with double exposures back in the day. Well, I didn’t—and frankly, Photoshop wasn't around in 1906 either.

One thing is for certain, though: no AI was used in these pieces. Every single element and detail was arranged by hand. The composite backdrops feature straight-up legendary art from some of my all-time favorite Finnish masters, like Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Hugo Simberg.

The artwork and frames were sourced directly from Finna’s open digital archives. Massive thanks to Hilla (@unelmah), who stepped in front of the lens and threw herself completely into this time-travel project!