Exhibitions

The exhibition sheds light on the early history of the Art Museum’s collection in the 1920s–1930s, during the first decades of the Republic of Estonia, when ethnographic artefacts, national handicrafts and other items of cultural heritage were collected by the museum, in addition to works of art.

Kaja Kärner (1920–1998) was one of the central figures in the legendary Tartu circle of friends, the first informal group of artists in post-World War II Estonia. She created abstract compositions with a good sense of rhythm and colour, collages and genre paintings which capture the overall tonality of the era with subtle shades of colour and hidden irony.

The new permanent exhibition highlights the versatility of the artist as a delicate painter, as well as a renowned creator of applied art who revealed the richness of his ideas and dynamic movement between various fields of art.

In the new visible storage space on the ground floor of Kadriorg Palace, visitors can explore the museum’s Western European and Russian sculpture collection, comprised of over 250 artworks dating from the 18th to the 20th centuries.

The Niguliste Museum presents the Swedish Royal Armoury’s family exhibition of unicorns and expands it with fantastic and mythical creatures from Estonian collections. The exhibition explores the story and meaning of the magical unicorn and opens up a wider world of fictional and fantastic creatures.

This exhibition represents one possible approach to the Estonian art of the second half of the 20th century, when it was characterised mainly by conflicts with and adaptations to the new political order established after World War II.

The exhibition focuses on two series of drawings by Hilda Kamdron (1900–1972), depicting the city of Tartu in the Second World War, when much of the old city was destroyed, and during post-war modernisation.

The permanent exhibition, launched in 2021, tells the story of Estonian art as it evolved through Estonia’s multi-ethnic history, growing into a heritage that blends Estonian, Baltic German and Russian traditions.

Enn Põldroos’s (b. 1933) comprehensive solo exhibition presents his works from the late 1950s until the 2020s.

The core of the permanent exhibition of the museum is made up of European and Chinese ceramics and porcelain, and Western European paintings from the former collection of Johannes Mikkel.

The exhibition, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ülo Sooster, an inimitably playful creator and a significant reformer of Estonian post-war modernism, displays works that belong to private collections.

The collection in the Niguliste Museum holds the most remarkable and valuable part of the medieval and early modern ecclesiastical art of Estonia. Most of the works of art in the Niguliste Museum’s collection originate from the church itself and have been displayed in their former locations.

The exhibition explores the intertwining of the body and the environment in an era of drastic environmental change, seeking to rekindle connection.

The permanent exposition of the Kadriorg Art Museum presents the cream of the foreign art collection of the Art Museum of Estonia, which consists mostly of paintings, sculptures and applied art from Western Europe and Russia from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

The exhibition space on the two floors of the Small Chapel features medieval (13th–16th-century) sculptures and altarpieces from Estonian churches.

On the first floor of the medieval church tower, accessible by medieval stairs and a modern glass lift, visitors can explore a display of historical church bells.

A brand-new glass lift that takes visitors to the top of the tower, where they can enjoy unique panoramic views of the medieval Old Town and Tallinn Bay.