The relaunch of the Ateneum Museum in Helsinki in April 2023 will be the starting point for a breathtaking extraversion of the Finnish capital’s famous Art Gallery and the city itself. The Ateneum is the ark of artistic Finland and is associated with all movements and trends in the art of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as with the systematic efforts to export and popularize Finnish artists abroad. The Ateneum will reopen completely renovated as a building and with a new museum re-exhibition of its collections. The opening exhibition will be titled “A Matter of Time” and will examine the path of art over the past 150 years or more, attempting to project new channels of approach and understanding on issues that are considered common property. The Ateneum, one of three national art museums, focuses its interest mainly on classical art, with collections ranging from the 18th century and Rococo expression in Finland to the avant-garde trends of the 20th century. It was founded in 1887, a few years before Finland gained independence, and from the very beginning it was the center of national identity. Its collections include almost 5,000 paintings and about 800 sculptures, which, with the upcoming reconstruction, will acquire a new living space. The architectural style of the building echoes the spirit of the Renaissance, as it was presented at the end of the 19th century. The architect was Finn Theodor Hoyer (1843-1910), who designed many buildings in Helsinki in this style and had a great influence on other architects. His style is grand and cosmopolitan. Ateneum is proud of its collections of the largest Finnish artists. Thanks to the Ateneum, one of the country’s greatest artists Albert Edelfeldt (1854-1905, son of a Swedish architect) gradually became world famous, although he himself achieved fame from a young age. But the Ateneum was the custodian of his art and a potential interlocutor for other museums in the world. Finnish art experienced a renaissance in the late 19th century, as did other Nordic countries. However, the Finnish school, despite following Western trends, also offers a parallel national reading, while the question of Finnish independence, finally achieved in 1917, remained open and burning.

World view

KISHINEV
Photo file
Zacharias Kusnir was a rural Moldovan who loved to take pictures. He died 30 years ago, but gradually his photographs were discovered, and a professor at a university in Moldova calls Kusnir a world-class photographer, comparable to Vivian Meyer (also discovered posthumously) and others. His photographs have been exhibited at the Arles Festival in Italy and other countries.

CONSTANTINOPOLE
Paula Rego
After major exhibitions at Tate Britain and the Venice Biennale, the works of Paula Rego (1935–2021) are on display until April at the Pera Museum in Istanbul. The exhibition, curated by Alistair Hicks, is called The History of Stories (inspired by the museum in Cascais) and is a selection of Rego’s travels in various mediums, oils, pastels, acrylics, charcoal, installations.

New York
John Elsley
The case of the British artist John Elsley (1860–1952) is typical of the popular, sentimental painting that was popular in the Victorian and Edwardian eras and has since been reproduced everywhere, even for commercial use. His work was recently acquired by New York’s Rehs Gallery, which specializes in 19th and 20th century art and caters to major collectors from around the world.

MADRID
Prestigious women
The Prado Museum presents an interesting exhibition to highlight the contribution of women to the creation of their collections. The exhibition, titled “From a Woman’s Perspective,” features works commissioned by women artists as well as works from women’s collections. All of them are part of the Prado collections.

HAMBURG
Octavian August
The first emperor of the Roman Empire, Octavian Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD) is the subject of an exhibition at Bucerius Art Space. The exhibition explores the representation of the imperial form and its dissemination in projection media in Rome and at the ends of the empire. The exhibits come from museums such as the Louvre, the Uffizi Gallery, the Vatican Museum, the Archaeological Museum of Naples, etc.