The number of museums, exhibitions and cultural experiences that are available in Helsinki, and indeed in Finland generally, very pleasantly surprises me. One of the first things I did was to buy a Museum card for €86. It turns out that I now have unlimited access to 360 museums all over Finland for a year, one for every day of the year I am out and about – if I stay in bed for the remaining five.
While access to the permanent collections in national galleries and museums are free in Ireland (which is wonderful), we do pay for curated exhibitions. It is a classic case of ‘swings and roundabouts’ as to which model is more cost-effective for the visitor. It will obviously depend on how much use I make of the card in the coming year. However, I reckon the outlay to me is probably about the same as at home if I base it on attending approximately five or six exhibitions annually in Ireland. However, the real advantage of having the card is that I can drop into museums and galleries for a short period of time and not try to ‘get my money’s worth’ on a single paid visit.
The National Gallery of Finland is the national museum of fine arts. It maintains three of Finland's most famous museums: the Ateneum Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, all in Helsinki. The Ateneum is next to the Central Railway Station and metro so I intend to drop in there fairly regularly when I am ‘in town’. It is a magnificent building, apart altogether from its collection and exhibitions.
Modern Gothic exhibition ran in the Anteneum from October until last week. According to its blurb, ‘the international exhibition presents modern art from the 19th and 20th centuries, influenced by European medieval and Northern Renaissance art. The diverse exhibition themes include death and ritual, but also sexuality and enlightenment.’ The exhibition prominently featured many works by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch who most of us know from his work ‘The Scream.’ While that was not on view, many of his paintings such as ‘On His Deathbed’ had difficult themes that emerged from his ‘soul painting,’ depicting his own emotional and psychological state. It was one of those exhibitions that I was glad I had attended. There were powerful paintings on display, though they did not always make for pleasant viewing.
In complete contrast, the most recent exhibition I attended was Paradise at the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM). Most of us, especially those of us who have read stories to young children, will recognise the work of the Finnish artist Tove Jansson, though we may not recognise her name. She is the creator of the Moomins, a family of white, round fairy-tale characters with large snouts that make them resemble the hippopotamus. However, despite this resemblance, the Moomin family are actually trolls who live in their house in Moominvalley. Jansson painted her fantastic murals in numerous public places in Finland such as in restaurants, children’s hospitals, kindergartens. Her Moomin characters began appearing in many of her murals, sometimes hidden away in foliage or in the background and in others they were romping around as the main protagonists. The exhibition marks the 80th anniversary of the publication of her children’s book Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (The Moomins and the Great Flood). I loved this exhibition and plan to re-visit before it finishes in early April.
Our friends Nuala and Rory were our first visitors in Helsinki and they were well able for the cold, snow, wet and darkness. They brightened up our days with their good company, great sense of humour and Rory’s excellent cooking and chocolate-making skills. Nuala is herself a very talented artist and we attended both exhibitions together. What I noticed was the complete difference in our approach to the pieces. Nuala stood back from a painting and more or less ‘breathed it in.’ She feasted her eyes on it and occasionally went up closer to see a particular feature or image. In contrast, my modus operandi in a museum or gallery is to typically go to the information board near the piece first and read about it. I don’t know why. Rarely do I retain the information for more than a few minutes.
I am determined to approach the 355 museums I have left to visit in Finland using my heart rather than my head. There will be no test or examination on it afterwards! I can just enjoy the experience.
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