page_title: Akseli Gallen-Kallela
section_title: Taos, New Mexico and later life
hierarchical_section_title: Akseli Gallen-Kallela / Life and career / Taos, New Mexico and later life
caption_attribution_description: Suomi: Akseli Gallen-Kallela ja Kansallismuseon fresko Sammon puolustus 1928
context_page_description: Akseli Gallen-Kallela was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. His work is considered very important for the Finnish national identity. He changed his name from Gallén to Gallen-Kallela in 1907.
context_section_description: In December 1923 he moved to the United States, where his family also followed him in autumn 1924. He first spent time in Chicago, and an exhibition of his work toured several cities. In Chicago he was impressed by Native American art and moved to Taos, New Mexico at the art colony there to study it further. During this time in the United States he also began sketching out the Great Kalevala in much more detail. In May 1926, the family returned to Finland. Two years later in 1928 together with his son Jorma he painted the Kalevala frescoes at the lobby of the National Museum of Finland. Then in 1930 he made an agreement to paint a gigantic fresco for the bank Kansallis-Osake-Pankki, but on 7 March 1931 while returning from a lecture in Copenhagen he suddenly died of pneumonia in Stockholm.
caption: Gallen-Kallela in the National Museum of Finland in front of his fresco version of The Defense of the Sampo, 1928
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