When we think of Modernism we tend to think of experiment, technology, decoration stripped away, form rigorously simplified. We don’t immediately think of medieval Europe or the Northern Renaissance. But in this exhibition, the Ateneum argues that art of the fin de siècle and early–20th century is rooted in the Gothic, which focused on deep and dark subject matter—“birth, death, suffering, and sexuality.” The artists featured here include Lucas Cranach the Elder, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Vincent van Gogh, Käthe Kollwitz, Edvard Munch, Hugo Simberg, Helene Schjerfbeck, Marianne Stokes, and Gustave Van de Woestyne. It’s a fascinating thesis. —Laura Jacobs