The Wounded Angel is the best-known work by Finnish Symbolist painter Hugo Simberg. It was voted Finland's "national painting" in a survey held by the Ateneum Art Museum in 2006

The atmosphere is melancholic: Two boys are carrying an angel on a stretcher, her forehead bandaged, and her wing tainted with blood. The boy on the right gazes out to the viewer with an unfriendly look

The landscape depicted is that of Eläintarha Park in Helsinki, with Töölönlahti Bay in the background. In Simberg's time, many charity institutions were located in Eläintarha such as the Blind Girls' School and the Home for Cripples, which is perhaps where the angel is being sent to

At the painting’s first exhibition, Simberg did not give it a name, putting down just a dash for the title. Many interpretations have been put forth, such as the artist’s own suffering from meningitis, or the bitter history of the Finnish people over centuries of wars against Sweden and Russia

On a more positive note, the angel figure clutches a bunch of snowdrops, symbolic of healing and rebirth; the same flowers are also seen on the otherwise barren ground in the surrounding