Helene Schjerfbeck

Changes in postage rates

Following the changes in postage rates at the beginning of the year 2006, Finland Post will issue a 0.95 euro denomination stamp on 1 March. This is the equivalent of the postage for a 51-100 gram first class domestic letter and for a 21-50 gram 1st class letter in Europe.

Fortune-Teller

The picture on the stamp is Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck's painting Fortune-Teller. The painting has another name as it was originally called Woman in Yellow Dress.
Fortune-Teller is from the artist's modernist late period. It is a low-key half-length portrait of a brunette looking down. The atmosphere is calm and introverted, and the palette is characteristic of the artist Helene Schjerfbeck: scanty and refined. The stamp bears a cropped version of the oil painting, which was completed in 1926.

Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946)

Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946) is one of Finland's most acclaimed painters of all time. Today her works are treasures, much sought-after in all international auction houses. Fortune-Teller is in the collection of the Finnish National Gallery Ateneum. It is one of Schjerfbeck's paintings collected by Yrjö and Nanny Kaunisto, which were donated by Nanny Kaunisto to the Ateneum Museum of Finnish Art in November. The donation considerably boosted the scope of the world's largest Helene Schjerfbeck collection, held by the Finnish National Gallery. The painting was adapted for the stamp by Antti Raudaskoski.
Issue: Finland, 1 March 2006

More information

Stamps Finland
Postage Stamps 2006
Finnish parliament
Apple Blossom
Postal Workers Union
National Library of Finland