In his summer house in Haiko in the Borgå archipelago outside Helsinki, Albert Edelfelt executed many grandiose and realistic depictions of Finnish people. In addition to these, he made several “sunshine pieces”, as he called the type of painting of which Summer Life in the Islets is an example. Many of the more intimate and lyrical paintings of his family out boating or in the garden were made to be sold in Paris. In the sprit of en plein air painting, he depicted sky, sun and sea, as well as beautifully dressed people.