An exhibition of the greatest works of Finnish modernist art opens tomorrow at Kadriorg Art Museum

Text Timo Huttunen
Photo Art Museum of Estonia

Väinö Kunnas (1896–1929). Red Dance. 1927. Oil. Art Museum of Estonia

A new exhibition entitled “The Dance of Colours: Finnish Modernist Art” openes tomorrow at the Kadriorg Art Museum in Tallinn. On display are the finest works of the greats of Finnish modernist art, including the likes of Alvar Cawén, Väinö Kunnas, Jalmari Ruokokoski, Tyko Sallinen and Yrjö Ollila.

An exhibition showcasing the works of well-known Finnish modernist painters of the first decades of the 20th century has opened today at the Kadriorg Art Museum in Tallinn. These experimenters and rebellious artists wanted to express their inner thoughts, feelings and experiences in their work, rather than the more traditional politically motivated art of the time.

As such, the focus of the exhibition, which includes works by the likes of Alvar Cawén, Väinö Kunnas, Jalmari Ruokokoski, Tyko Sallinen and Yrjö Ollila, is on people and the environment. The artist’s interest in the physical and spiritual nature of man and the depiction of its more hidden and darkest sides are in dialogue with the expressed vitality and harmonious depiction of nature used in landscape paintings.

“The era of bright colors was short-lived in the history of Finnish art, but this exhibition has received several works from painters who cultivate free brushwork and the joy of color. Among them were Magnus Enckell, Yrjö Ollila and Ellen Thesleff. The works in the exhibition have many similarities with the works of the classic Estonian modernist artists such as Konrad Mägi and Nikolai Triiginnii, both in terms of bright colors and the choice of theme,” says Kerttu Männiste, the curator of the exhibition.

The exhibition will be on display in the Kadriorg Art Museum until August 20, 2023.

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Art Art Exhibition Finnish Art Finnish Modernist Art Kadriorg Kadriorg Art Museum Modernist Art