One Hundred Estonian Painters in Pärnu
Text Susanna Poikela Photos Pärnu Museum of New Art
The annual exhibition of the Estonian Painters Association, or Eesti Maalikunstnike Liit, has opened at the Museum of New Art, or MONA, in Pärnu. This year, the exhibition features as many as one hundred Estonian painters. The curator and exhibition designer is Jaan Elken.
What is this group exhibition of the Painters Association about? The theme, “Ideal Landscapes”, explores landscape painting in its broader sense. When we talk about landscape painting, it no longer necessarily means only beautiful, harmonious depictions of nature, although these also have their place and purpose. The landscape motif dominates, for example, the more recent works of well-known painters Anselm Kiefer and David Hockney. In Estonian art auctions, it is often landscape works that set record prices, such as the paintings of Konrad Mägi and the seascapes of Richard Uutmaa.
The more industrialised our living environment becomes and the rarer untouched nature is, the greater the demand for depictions of wild natural landscapes. In restless and uncertain times, landscape painting as an artistic direction also has a calming effect. At the same time, it allows for a wide variety of associations, interpretations, and references. In the expanded definition, a landscape can be a significant metaphor for the human body, or it can visualise and map the so-called internal cosmos occurring within human consciousness.
The “Ideal Landscapes” exhibition is open until 24 May. You can read more about this exhibition of the Pärnu Museum of New Art here. The Estonian Museum of New Art is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 18:00. From June to August, the museum is open every day from 11:00 to 18:00.
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