Frans Oskar Pavén (Oskari Paatela) was a Finnish visual artist born in 1888 in the city of Vantaa, the son of Johannes Pavén and Eva Maria Antintytär. In 1907 he began his studies at the Department of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Helsinki. At the same time, he was also a student of the artist Eero Järnefelt at the university's drawing department. Interest in the visual arts superseded studying at the university, and Paatela moved to the drawing school of the Finnish Art Association where he studied from 1908–1910. In 1910, he traveled with the painter Eero Snellman to Paris, where he studied at Académie Colarossi and Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Later he returned to Paris in 1913 to study at the Académie Libre.

     In 1914 and 1915 the artist participated in major art exhibitions at the Ataneum Art Museum. First the Exhibition of Finnish Artists II (Finska konstnäremas utställning II), and next at the exhibition display of contemporary Finnish art at the museum's south-west corner hall. He exhibited along with the most prominemt Finnish artists of the day, including Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Pekka Halonen, Eero Järnefelt, Yrjö Ollila, Juho Rissanen, Jalmari Ruokokoski, Tyko Sallinen, Hugo Simberg, Helene Schjerfbeck, Ellen Thesleff and Victor Westerholm, Magnus Enckell, Valle Rosenberg, Alvar Cawén, and Marcus Collin.

     Paatela married Anna Broms in 1917 and they ran a frame shop together until he was appointed Head Teacher of the drawing school of the Finnish Art Association from 1921–1923.

     The artist had many commissions to paint public works including the altarpieces for Virolahti Church and  Alavude Church in 1914, the Helsinki Free Church in 1929, a fresco in the banquet hall of Helsinki National University in 1915, and a stained glass window in the Kallio Library in 1923. In 1926 the artist's brothers, Architects Jussi and Toivo Paatela, designed a new building for the Anatomy department of the University of Helsinki. Oskari painted the frescoes in the chapel on the lower floor of the west wing, making this an important family project. Jussi and Toivo went on to become among the country's most prominent architects.

     In the mid 1920s, the artist made trips to the eastern Baltic Sea island of Suursaari to paint the rugged beach cliffs, the sea, and the surrounding mountain range – as did artists Ragnar Ekelund, Santeri Salokivi, Jalmari Ruokokoski, and Marcus Collin.

     However, the success of the artist was not to last. Paatela's wife died in 1927, after which Paatela became an alcoholic and lost control of his life and his artistic ambition. The artist passed away February 25, 1952, in Vaasa, Finland.

     The artist is represented in the Finnish National Gallery, the Helsinki City Museum, and the Porilaismuseo (Pori Brigade Museum).