Ongoing

Nelimarkka Foundation contemporary art collection

18.5.2024 – 15.9.2024

Free admission Sat 18.5; free 45 min guided tour at 12 noon
Brief activities for families with children to discover the works together

The Nelimarkka Museum in Alajärvi, now in its 60th year, is pleased to present  previously-unexhibited works from the Nelimarkka Foundation’s contempoary art collection. On display are collages, paintings, prints and textiles, and sculptures by well-known Finnish artists, including Outi Heiskanen, Kimmo Pyykkö, Anna Retulainen, Stiina Saaristo, Kim Simonsson, and Viggo Wallenskiöld.

The exhibition explores two main themes of the collection. One is an almost childlike perspective: sometimes playful, sometimes the stuff of absurd or dark fantasies. The other is a love of colour and materiality: painterly effects etched into metal, thick, dripping layers of paint, the shadowy emulsion of a photograph, etc.

The themes of the works range from the serious, such as the effects of war on children, to lighter, nostalgic memories. There are spooky nurses, and whimsical animals, toys and children’s characters.

The Nelimarkka Foundation, founded by Professor Eero Nelimarkka in 1945, is dedicated to preserving the production and life’s work of its founder. The Foundation also owns the core collection of the Nelimarkka Museum, founded by Eero Nelimarkka and opened in 1964.

The Nelimarkka Fund also supports the visual arts of living artists in all their current forms, the main criteria being originality, interest and quality. Its new acquisitions collection includes over 300 works from the last few decades. The Foundation adds to the collection every year.

The Nelimarkka Foundation supports the activities of the Nelimarkka Museum and is based in Helsinki.