The story of La Grande Vallée served as another referential point of departure for the exhibition. Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) has painted a series of the same name. La Grande Vallée is located in France near Nantes, where Mitchell’s composer friend spent his childhood and told him his fairytale childhood story. The valley was natural and untouched, it could only be experienced by those who knew the secret leading to the valley, difficult to drive entrance. The sounds of traffic and people could not be heard in the valley. A nearby river
recognized only by the moisture that the river breathed into the valley. Here’s an eight-year-old girl who shared her secret
his cousin’s cash register, was able to enjoy the freedom, birds, insects and the rustle of the trees created by the wind
of the symphony and the visual, colorful landscape that changes with the seasons. Although the visits to the valley decreased and ended, the memory of the valley and the time spent there remained as magical and
innocent. The cousin’s death later and his wish to be able to visit here again
in the wondrous valley before his death, emphasize the magic that creates the vitality of the place. According to the dictionary, ethereal is immaterial, airy, everything we say, do and think,
registers in our own ethereal being Johanna Aalto, like Joan Mitchel, was influenced by the story and its
of enchantment. Johanna Aalto deals with the subject sensitively, tunes her color palette and senses to receive
the ethereal essence of the valley. For him, painting is a way to exist, to live, and his works are passed on
the most important thing – love, love for painting.
Visual artist Johanna Aalto (b. 1962) studied in Paris at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts. His
his works are in several public collections in Finland and Sweden, e.g. Helsinki Art Museum HAM, Henna and Pertti
The Niemistö foundation and the collections of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri fund and Statens Konstråd, Göteborgs Konstmuseum and
Stockholms Sjukhem. He lives and works in Espoo.
The exhibition has been supported by the Uusimaa Cultural Fund.
