In 1895, she received a scholarship and traveled to Florence, Italy. A year later she moved to the village of Antignano in Livorno where she met an Italian painter 13 years younger, Raffaello Gambogi (1874–1943). They began working together and got married in 1898. They held exhibitions in Paris, Florence (where she was awarded an art prize by the city) and Milan and in many Finnish cities, and their paintings were also included in the 1900 World's Fair in Paris, where she again won bronze medal. She also got to second place at the 1901 national portrait painting competition organized by the Finnish state. King Umberto even purchased a painting from her.