Suffering is not a requirement for the creation of art

Unbelievable but true – today, Saturday, 10 October, is both Aleksis Kivi Day and World Mental Health Day.  

Aleksis Kivi is the Finnish national author and highly respected. Everyone who has gone to elementary or comprehensive school in Finland has had the opportunity to read The Seven Brothers, and Nummisuutarit is one of the most performed Finnish-language plays of all time. However, Kivi did not feel well while he was alive. Reading the author's biography is not pleasant: living on the edge of poverty, illnesses, "bouts of mental disorders", "chronic melancholy", insomnia and alcoholism. 

It is indeed an exciting coincidence that the memorial day of Aleksis Kivi, who lived his adult life in great suffering and poverty and died of illness at a young age, and World Mental Health Day fall on the same day. I would like to take this opportunity to try to slay the myth of the suffering artistic genius who still lives tenaciously. 

Suffering is not a requirement for the creation of art. Art is created when the artist has something to say and sufficient resources to make art. Sufficient resources mean tools, materials, time and livelihood; and in practice, all of these require money. 

On 28 September, Helsingin Sanomat published an opinion piece by TaiYo, which dealt with the livelihoods of higher education students and the risks associated with student loans from the perspective of art students. The opinion piece was commented on, among other things, as follows: "if the art is good it gets bought" and "high-quality art can do without handouts". However, these claims by the deep ranks of the population do not stand up to critical scrutiny, as even the greatest success stories in the Finnish art and culture field have received state support. But why does this high-quality art need "handouts"? mielipidekirjoituksen, joka käsitteli korkeakouluopiskelijoiden toimeentuloa ja opintolainan sisältämää riskiä taideopiskelijoiden näkökulmasta. Mielipidekirjoitusta kommentoitiin mm. seuraavasti: “kyllä aina hyvää taidetta ostetaan” ja “korkeatasoinen taide pärjää ilman almujakin”. Nämä kansan syvien rivien hajatelmat eivät kuitenkaan kestä kriittistä tarkastelua, sillä suurimmatkin menestystarinat suomalaisella taide- ja kulttuurikentällä ovat saaneet valtion tukea. Mutta mihin tämä korkeatasoinen taide tarvitsee “almuja”? 

State support for art is not charity, but a profitable and necessary investment. It is a profitable investment as it pays for itself many times over in tax money for the state and as an invaluable cultural capital for the people. It is a necessary investment because making art requires resources, and there are costs long before the work is ready to be distributed to the public. Developing a game, making films and producing albums simply requires a lot of working hours, i.e. time and money, before they can start producing livelihoods for their creators or cultural capital for their audiences. If we want to continue to have Finnish success stories in the field of art and culture, we must continue to invest in them. 

On World Mental Health Day, I thought that in the light of his current prestige, Aleksis Kivi would have deserved an adequate livelihood and health care during his lifetime. Who knows if there would have been even more cultural cornerstones of our nation if the writer had been doing better. In 2026, the myth of the suffering artist genius should already be dying. The next government will also have the opportunity to ensure the conditions for artists' work and sufficient livelihood, as well as the creation of new Finnish success stories by investing in art and culture. 

Mikko Aaltio
chair of the board
University of Arts Helsinki Student Union

Aaltio studies game and film composition in the Music Technology master's programme.