Konrad Mägi. The Light of the North
The exhibition Konrad Mägi. The Light of the North was opened at the Musei Reali Torino on 29 November by the President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid.
This exhibition has been put together jointly by the Art Museum of Estonia, the Musei Reali and the Konrad Mägi Foundation and it comes at the same time as the passing of one hundred years since Mägi’s trip to Italy. The exposition consisting of more than fifty paintings, portraits and sketches is one of the largest solo exhibitions of this artist’s works in Europe. The works that will be displayed are from the collections of the Art Museum of Estonia, the Tartu Art Museum, the Under and Tuglas Literature Centre, the private collections of Enn Kunila and Peeter Värnik, and the art collection of the Estonian Students’ Society.
For Enrica Pagella, the director of Musei Reali, the exhibition Konrad Mägi. The Light of the North is simultaneously a discovery and a challenge for the public. ‘On the one hand, we’re still introducing to them a relatively unknown artist and his world, which has been formed by experiences and contacts with Estonia, St. Petersburg, Paris and Rome. On the other hand, Mägi’s paintings present a real challenge to the viewer because his pictorial language is admittedly direct, but it contains symbols from different art trends starting with the art nouveau style and fauvism all the way to impressionism and expressionism. This has to be interpreted on the background of concrete personal sources of inspiration, like something that originates from a distant foreign country and only observes the customs of its own homeland,’ she discussed. She further said that Mägi is a painter who has added a separate chapter to Europe’s cultural history with his use of images, colour and light.
A documentary film on Konrad Mägi created especially for this exhibition by the film director Marianne Kõrver can be watched at the exhibition.
Curator: Eero Epner
Exhibition design: Tõnis Saadoja
Graphic design: Kätlin Tischler
Coordinator: Eda Tuulberg
Supporters: Konrad Mägi Foundation, Municipality of Torino
We thank: Estonian Embassy in Rome
