Venny Soldan-Brofeldt

Wendla Irene Soldan-Brofeldt, known as Venny (2 November 1863, Helsinki – 10 October 1945, Lohja) was a Finnish painter, illustrator, graphic artist, wood sculptor and jewelry designer. She belonged to the Swedish speaking population of Finland.

Biography

She was born as Wendla Irene Soldan. Her father, was the Director of the Mint of Finland. Her mother, Marie Müller (1837–1927), was German. Swedish was spoken at home. From 1880 to 1884, she initially attended the drawing school of the Finnish Art Association (now the Academy of Fine Arts), but also studied privately with Maria Wiik and attended classes in St.Petersburg from 1883 to 1885. She was briefly a student at the Académie Colarossi in Paris on two occasions. She also made study trips to Spain and Italy with the money she earned copying old classics. Upon returning to Helsinki, she became an art teacher. She took the name Brofeldt rather than Aho because that was still her husband's legal name. Their home became a cultural meeting place that welcomed such notables as Jean Sibelius, Pekka Halonen, Arvid Järnefelt, Werner Söderhjelm. Albert Edelfelt, Axel Gallén and Eero Järnefelt. She was occasionally criticized for "masculine" habits such as smoking a pipe and wearing trousers. They also travelled about extensively until she became pregnant, then bought a home in Hausjärvi. Eventually though, it became a crisis and Juhani took a trip to Paris to let the situation settle down. Tilly went to Switzerland "for her health". Juhani joined her there, but had already decided to continue his marriage. In 1900, their second son , who would also become a writer, was born. The triangle continued until 1902, when Tilly gave birth to Juhani's son. Juhani set them up in Järvenpää and visited frequently. She set up a small nursing home to support herself. Apparently none of this was known to the rest of their family and friends until Antti published his autobiography in 1951. In 1907, Juhani had his name legally changed to Aho as a patriotic gesture. Venny chose to retain her hyphenated name.

Selected paintings