Colorful Baltic Sea mythology and Estonian art history – summer experiences in Kadriorg

Text Susanna Poikela
Pictures Kumu

Lembit Sarapuu (1930). The birth of the Baltic Sea. 1993. Oil. Tartu Art Museum

This summer, the Estonian Art Museum in Kumu will exhibit works inspired by the mythology of the Baltic Sea. In addition, Kumu and the Kadriorg Art Museum have permanent exhibitions presenting the history of Estonian art and culture.

“Lembit Sarapuu: Reality and Actuality” is an art exhibition in Kumu compiled from the works of 92-year-old visual artist Lembit Sarapuu. Sarapuu’s long career as an artist has lasted over 60 years.

Naivism, transavantgardism and postmodernism can be found in his works. The artist’s paintings are playful and glorious, of which “Kalev’s son and the Maiden of the Island” and “Landscapes of the Baltic Sea” with their shorelines and granite boulders are a good reflection of his unique painting style.

The most creative period of Sarapuu is considered to be the time of Estonia’s independence, i.e. the late1980s and into the 1990s, when colourful works based on his mythological themes, especially Kalev’s son, appealed to a wide audience. “At one end of the exhibition are simple landscapes, nudes and portraits, at the other end sexual, brutal and grotesque mythological paintings, and in the middle of it all, ironic and clever works dealing with everyday life and being human. He has interpreted his work as a reciprocal movement between the reality of life and the actual, from which this exhibition also got its name,” comments art critic Anders Härm, the curator of the exhibition.

Kumu’s main exhibition presents the history of Estonian art

The contemporary architectural gem designed by Pekka Vapaavuori, the Kumu Art Museum, has two main exhibitions. They present in a versatile way the classics of Estonian art, which open a history of Estonia to visitors through different themes and eras.

Treasures of the Kadriorg Art Museum

Kadriorg Art Museum is located in the middle of a historic Baroque palace and a beautiful park. The art museum exhibits Western European and Russian paintings, graphics, sculptures and works of art from the 16th to the 20th centuries. In addition, an extensive collection of sculptures has been opened to the public on the first floor of the art museum, where you can get acquainted with the restoration of sculptures, and sculpture techniques and materials.

The sculptures form a small but significant part of the collection of foreign art of the Estonian Art Museum, which has so far been presented to the public very little. The exhibition is called the “Visible Storage Gallery for the Sculpture Collection” and will run until the end of this year. In addition, a repro exhibition will be opened on the pedestrian street in Kadriorg Park in cooperation with the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Kumu Art Museum (Kumu Art Museum) Weizenbergi 34 / Valge 1 

Kadriorg Art Museum (Kadriorg Art Museum) Weizenberg 37 

To learn more about this and similar topics
Art Art Museum Kadriorg Kumu Lembit Sarapuu Mythology Pekka Vapaavuori Permanent Exhibition