Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946) is one of the most important Finnish artists of the first half of the twentieth century. While her painterly oeuvre has attracted a great deal of attention in Scandinavia, she is largely unknown abroad. This comprehensive monograph introduces the life and work of the painter, with over 80 impressive works from all of her creative phases. The publication shows how, despite her physical isolation, the artist kept up with the art of her contemporaries through illustrations from art and fashion magazines. Here, both the famous self-portraits and the picture series The Convalescent, The Seamstress and The Death of Wilhelm von Schwerin play a crucial role, as do as numerous portraits of women and the less well-known male nudes and history paintings.