The exhibition From Mittens to Köler: The Birth of the Museum’s Collection offers a fascinating look back at the museum’s early days

The exhibition, which opens at the Kadriorg Art Museum on 21 September, explores the history of the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia from its foundation in 1919 until World War II. The exhibition marks the 105th anniversary of the Art Museum of Estonia. The exhibition is being curated by Ulrika Jõemägi, Kersti Kuldna-Türkson and Kristiina Tiideberg.

“While most art exhibitions centre on artworks and artists, this exhibition shifts the focus to how and when the works entered the museum’s collection. Thus, we can trace the museum’s development from a general museum with a diverse collection to a specialised art museum that now collects art from the Middle Ages to the present day,” said Kersti Kuldna-Türkson, Head of Collection Management at the Art Museum of Estonia and one of the curators of the exhibition.

In its early years, the museum collected not only works of art but also traditional crafts and cultural and farm artefacts, which have since been transferred to other museums. Nearly 10,000 items from the former Tallinn Estonian Museum are now in the collection of the Estonian National Museum. A selection of the most fascinating items can now be seen again in their former home in Kadriorg Palace. The display also features five porcelain plates from the permanent collection of the Latvian Museum of Decorative Art and Design. These were purchased for the Art Museum of Estonia from a 1928 exhibition of the Latvian porcelain painting studio Baltars. In 1979, the plates were transferred to the Latvian National Museum of Art.

Before World War II, most additions to the museum’s collection were purchases by the Ministry of Education, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia or the Estonian Museum Association, but there were also many donations. For example, Amandus Adamson’s sculpture The Fading Youth, also included in the exhibition, was donated to the museum with funds from a public collection. Several artworks are being shown for the first time since they entered the museum’s collection. One of these is a 1921 portrait of the Estonian sculptor August Weizenberg by the Serbian artist Nikola Bešević.

In addition to works by renowned Estonian artists, such as Johann Köler and Konrad Mägi, the museum collected contemporary art, mainly acquired from local art exhibitions. In this way, the museum acquired early works by artists who would later play important roles in Estonian art history, such as Eduard Wiiralt, Elmar Kits, Aleksander Vardi and Karin Luts.

The exhibition will be accompanied by public and educational programmes.

The exhibition From Mittens to Köler: The Birth of the Museum’s Collection will be on view until 2 March 2025 at the Kadriorg Art Museum.

Curators: Ulrika Jõemägi, Kersti Kuldna-Türkson and Kristiina Tiideberg
Exhibition design: Liina Unt
Graphic design: Diana Yanson

The works on display are from the following museums: the Art Museum of Estonia, Estonian History Museum, Estonian National Museum, Latvian National Museum of Art and Saaremaa Museum