This unusual piece by the Finnish symbolist Beda Stjernschantz draws its title from the Song of Finland, which contains the chorus "The Song is Finland! The Song is Finland." The subjects are a group of Swedes (a major minority population in Finland) living on the islands of Vorms who impressed Stjernschantz for having preserving their language, customs and dress. The instrument the girl plays is the kantele, which is closely identified with Finnish national identity. [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beda-Stjernschantz-Everywhere-Invites-Giclee/dp/B00HZSA1CC] Many symbolists considered music to be the highest art. In this picture you can almost hear one girl singing and the other playing. Having studied art in Helsinki and Paris, Stjernschantz was a key symbolist in the 1890s. This painting, which takes its title from the lyrics of the patriotic Song of Finland, is Stjernschantz’s main work. Painted in Estonia on the island of Vorms, the picture has a dreamlike atmosphere and is both decorative and stark at the same time. Shown in a nearly empty and shadowless space rendered in a narrow palette, the children symbolize timeless innocence and vulnerable beauty. The symbolists did not seek to imitate nature; the external motif was for them always subservient to spiritual truth and emotional expression. [http://ateneum.fi/nayttelyt-nyt/symbolism/?lang=en]