During his lifetime, sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen completed several public sculpture commissions of major national significance. These include the five sculptures created following a competition and installed in the plenary chamber of the Parliament Building. The figures in the series Work and the Future symbolise the building of the young nation and the ideals that shaped it at the time.

The sculpture Intellectual Work represents intellectual, profound and reflective activity as one of the supporting structures of an educated welfare state. Originally produced in gilded plaster, the works were later cast in bronze for the plenary chamber. Twin casts of three of the sculptures now stand in front of WAM Museum of Contemporary Art.