18.2.2024 | Culture

Viggo and Heljä Wallensköld joint exhibition in Pärnu

Text Susanna Poikela
Photos Pärnu Museum of New Art

Viggo Wallensköld and his mother Heljä Wallensköld’s art exhibition “Roots and Blossoms” opened a week ago at the Pärnu Museum of New Art. The mother and son duo are organising a joint exhibition for the first time, and the home region of Viggo’s grandmother, Ilse, was chosen as the location.

Ilse, who was a farm girl from Olland, near Pärnu, went to study agriculture in Finland at a young age and remained there after she married a Finnish man. The union gave birth to Heljä, Viggo’s mother.

Viggo Wallensköld’s (1969) breakthrough came in 2002, when he won the Dukattti art prize of the Finnish Art Association. In 2005, he was chosen as the best young artist of the year. Not long ago, he applied for the Ars Fennica prize and in 2022 was chosen as the public’s favorite artist in the spring exhibition related to the nomination.

Viggo’s biggest exhibitions to date were held in 2008–2009 at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, and in 2022–2023 at the Helsinki Art Museum.

The Wallenskölds have collected a large number of portraits and landscapes for the joint exhibition in which symbolism has been subtly used. Heljä (1943) lives in Porvoo and still paints every morning. This exhibition is dedicated to finding ones roots.

The exhibition “Roots and Blossoms” will remain on display at the Pärnu Museum of New Art until March 31.