Anna Sinebrychoff – Ahead of Her Time

Anna Sinebrychoff (1830–1904) had a bourgeois girl’s education, married the successful businessman Paul Sinebrychoff (1799–1883) in 1850, and they had four children. On her husband’s death, she attained a position that was rare for a woman in Finland, as majority shareholder and chair of the board of a large company. In the latter half of the 19th century, she became the most important woman in the prominent Sinebrychoff Brewery clan. She resolutely led the family and kept a close eye on the work of her two sons as they managed the company. She was the undisputed matriarch and a revered grandmother. Anna Sinebrychoff died in 1904. The numerous obituaries noted her extensive charitable work.

She was the subject of an exceptionally fine series of portraits, each testifying to her eminence. Albert Edelfelt, the most famous Finnish portrait painter of the 19th century, made four large paintings of her, which are now being seen together for the first time. In the 1890s, Anna commissioned two more portraits of herself from the artist Gunnar Berndtson, now on public display for the first time.

The exhibition offers a broad overview of Anna’s life and work in Helsinki from the 1850s onwards. At its core is Anna Sinebrychoff the active influencer: bearer of responsibility for the family and business, benefactor, prominent figure in associations and societies, and member of the Orthodox congregation. All of this places her at the centre of the social and economic changes of her time. The exhibition is curated by the Chief Curator, Ira Westergård, PhD, and the exhibition architecture is by Designer Lauri Johansson.

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Sinebrychoff Art Museum
Bulevardi 40, 00120 Helsinki

0294 500 460

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Suljettu väliaikaisesti

The Sinebrychoff Art Museum is completely closed for renovations from January 12 to February 11, 2026. The House Museum and Art Collection (2nd floor) is closed from January 7 to February 16, 2026.