2025 marks 500 years from the publication of the first book in Estonian. Marking the Year of the Estonian Book, an exhibition opens on Friday, 25 April at the Niguliste Museum which presents the rarest relics of the history of Estonian books and provides an overview of the development of the written language and published materials from the 16th to the 19th century.

The Art Museum of Estonia and the Tallinn Bus Station have brought reproductions of classic Estonian art works to six large stands on the bus platform, offering the joy of recognition to every Estonian. The selection includes works by the beloved classics Kristjan Raud, Eduard Wiiralt, Konrad Mägi, Nikolai Triik, Enn Põldroos and Elmar Kits.

From 29 March, the Kadriorg Art Museum will host the international exhibition Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio, featuring 40 works by this key figure of the Early Italian Baroque. The works are on loan from European museums and private collections and include several pieces that have never before been on public display.

On Wednesday, 19 March two valuable portraits by the Baltic German artist Gustav Adolf Hippius (1792‒1856) arrived in Estonia. The portraits of the Hageri pastor David Friedrich Ignatius and his wife Magdalena Christina belonged to the German-Baltic Society (Deutsch-Baltische Gesellschaft, DBGes). Because Hippius’s paintings are of great cultural and art historical importance for Estonia, it was decided to donate them to the Art Museum of Estonia.

The exhibition The Mei Sisters: Avant-Garde and the Everyday Life by the sisters Kristine (1895–1969), Lydia (1896–1965) and Natalie (1900–1975) Mei will open at the Kumu Art Museum on 14 March, bringing the creative legacy of three unique female artists to the public on a large scale for the first time. The exhibition is curated by Kai Stahl, Eha Komissarov and Ulrika Jõemägi.

The Kadriorg Art Museum is committed to researching and presenting the European and Russian artistic heritage.

With the aim of revitalising cross-disciplinary research on Estonian art of the first half of the 20th century and strengthening networks of researchers working in this field, the project brings together scholars from Estonia, Norway, Latvia, Denmark and other countries. The research project was initiated by the Art Museum of Estonia.

From 7 February, the Kumu Art Museum’s Contemporary Art Gallery will host the international group exhibition They Began to Talk. The exhibition brings together the practices of artists working in Estonia and other Baltic countries with those from Indigenous communities in the Nordic countries, exploring the possibility of recovering and cultivating a sense of reconnection between body and land.

Starting 21 January, the second part of Hilda Kamdron’s (1900–1972) Tartu-themed drawings will be on display in the project space of the Kumu Art Museum. Dating back to the 1960s, this collection depicts the construction of the modernist Annelinn district in Tartu.

In the year 2024, 349,004 art lovers visited the branches, exhibitions and audience programmes of the Art Museum of Estonia. Among them, over 25,100 students and adults took part in educational programmes.

The XXXVIII International Niguliste Organ Week, which runs from the first to the seventh of January, will feature evening concerts and a daily programme showcasing the finest works of medieval and early modern art, accompanied by music. Professor Andres Uibo is the festival’s organiser and artistic director.

On 6 December, the artist Enn Põldroos’s (b 1933) solo survey exhibition Museum of Obsessions will open in the Great Hall of the Kumu Art Museum. The exhibition includes Põldroos’s works from the 1950s to the 2020s. The curator of the exhibition is Anders Härm.