“In terms of living, we had our own ideas from the beginning. There had to be no vanity, no unnecessary cost, everything had to be as cheap and simple as possible, but still somehow stylish. Freedom above all, that was our motto. ” From the diary of Venny Soldan-Brofeldt’s in 1933.

What did painter Venny Soldan-Brofeldt think about home design? The Ahola summer exhibition, the birthplace of the Lake Tuusula Artist Community, introduces the artist’s lesser-known side as a home decorator and artisan.

The Vårbacka villa, or Ahola, found by Venny Soldan-Brofeldt, was the only villa to be rented by an artist. Ahola gradually grew around the existing house and was partly Venny’s own creation. In connection with the move to Järvenpää, Venny was overwhelmed with great enthusiasm for home construction.

Ahola’s simple but stylish interior provided an example of how it was possible to create a comfortable place with your own hands and affordability. In Ahola, Venny wanted to realize the idea of ​​home as a complete work of art. As an artist, she wanted to expand her sphere of activity from visual arts to arts and crafts, interior design and textile art. Indeed, Venny was passionate about decorative art, painting paintings, designing interior textiles, carving wood and making miniature sculptures.

Ahola’s interior was complemented by old inherited furniture along with furniture designed by Venny. The shades of yellow and soft green of the rugs intertwined with the home-woven warm-toned and red-checkered curtains.

“It knows the warmth and peace of home. Beautiful is the starry sky, beautiful is the sea – Thank you Toska! ” Venny Soldan-Brofeldt in her book Merimajamme (“Our sea cabin”) and Me (“Us”) in the 1930s in Ahola.

Venny missed the seaside nature, the fresh breeze, a simple getaway where you could focus on painting in peace. In 1907, Toska, Venny’s own realm, was found in Hanko’s Tvärminne, which she loved more than any other place in the world. Toska was a place of peace in complete isolation, surrounded by the sea, whose first residence was a modest wooden house built by the boys of Venny. No bourgeois summer villa was desired, it was built respecting the surrounding nature and environment.

The simplistic style of Ahola’s interior was further simplified in Toska, which charm was in contact with the incomprehensible greatness of nature and, alongside it, man’s fears and sorrows seem so very small and insignificant. Decorate like Venny! Come to Ahola’s mini-exhibition to be inspired by Venny’s beautiful practicality.

Ahola
Sibeliuksenväylä 57, Järvenpää
ahola(at)jarvenpaa.fi
040 315 2213

Opening hours
2.6.2020 – 30.9.2020 Tue-Sun at 10 am – 6 pm

Admission fees
7/6/4 € or Museum Card
Other times open by appointment.

Nearest train station: Ainola.
Please note that Ainola station to be closed between 19 June and 9 December 2023. Replacement buses will run between Ainola and Järvenpää stations so travel to Järvenpää station and take a replacement bus to Ainola Station (and walk from there to Ahola).