Kaljo Põllu (1934–2010) is one of the most distinguished Estonian artists and a visual interpreter of the world-view of Finno-Ugric and Nordic peoples and their ancient myths.
The works of artists of two different generations are used to address topical women’s issues. Women are viewed against the background of social blows and in the context of real and grim stories.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Eero Järnefelt (1863–1937) and Venny Soldan-Brofeldt (1863–1945), two classics from the Golden Age of Finnish art, worked in the well-known Finnish artist community at Lake Tuusula. The works included in the exhibition – colourful landscapes, portraits of the artist’s community and compositions focused on everyday life – come from the rich collection of the Järvenpää Art Museum.
In the late 1980s, Siim-Tanel Annus (1960) appeared on the international scene as a performance artist. Today, the artist has moved on from performances to pictorial art, and the exhibition juxtaposes the documentation of his performances with his graphic art.
The exhibition will tell the story of the Virgin Mary through medieval and early modern art works from houses of worship in Estonia and Livonia, and will also introduce masterpieces of Estonian medieval art from various churches.
The exhibition is dedicated to the art collector Alfred Rõude (1896–1968), whose mission included systematically collecting the best of Estonian contemporary art.
The exhibition, marking the centenary of when the University of Tartu became the national Estonian-language university, provides a survey of the development of the university’s art collection through two centuries.
