As the beginning of autumn brings back one’s university studies, for me it also brings this want of educating myself a bit more in museum halls and gallery spaces, enjoying what has been created merely by the inspiration to create. There’s nothing like a good museum visit: I truly like walking around, being surrounded by works of art that showcase how thoughts, ideas and feelings and have been given a physical shape and how an environment has so inspired a painter that they’ve felt the need to recreate it with paint and brush. This, then, made me miss the magnificent Ateneum art museum (part of the Finnish National Gallery) since before this week I hadn’t visited in a long time. I went in quite early in the afternoon which is the best time as daylight does more justice to the entrance hall and the museum is no at all crowded. As you walk in, you see the museum’s wide staircase leading up to the upper floors and the main gallery, the daylit stairs and corridors themselves worthy of one’s attention.
If you’re wondering how to pass the time while alone or want to take your mind off things, really one of the best ways to do this is to visit Ateneum’s main exhibit. The museum is worth the visit merely for its own permanent collection of art made by Finnish and international artists. The collection exhibition, named Stories of Finnish Art, celebrates classic Finnish art pieces as well as works by international artists who might have inspired their creative Finnish counterparts in the 19th and 20th centuries, creating intriguing spaces that makes the viewer think of Finnish art history and its relation to the wider art world and its movements. With sculptures and paintings in the many galleries that vary in themes – classics, urban life, people (a quite packed yet delightful gallery of portraits of people), form and color, for example – this wonderful museum can easily take up your afternoon. (Seriously, it is best you don’t rush yourself in the galleries.) I noticed it was quite relaxing to take my time and just focus on what is in front of me – no studies, no issues, no stressful thoughts occupying my mind like someone looking over my shoulder to see what I’m doing (as if it’s wrong to spend my time this way, given my other tasks).
From the galleries dedicated to European classics – Van Gogh, Munch, Cézanne for instance – and Kalevala, illustrating the Finnish national epic, to galleries representing symbolism, new expressions of the early 20th century and finally spaces dedicated to modern art, there is plenty to see and marvel at. As much as I try to cultivate my knowledge on Finnish art – having been always more intrigued by the rest of Europe – I must admit my delight and surprise at seeing Van Gogh and Gauguin.
I decided to begin with spaces dedicated to modern art and therefore “went back in time” to see what the museum is displaying at the moment. I found myself immediately impressed in the first galleries with themes of “form and color” and “the right to experiment,” showing the viewer how the artistic and experimental Finnish mind worked in the mid-20th century. You will definitely stop in front of Sam Vanni’s Polydimensional Space (1961) for a while. (Although I admit, the very first painting you might see, if you begin from the Modernism section, is Mauri Favén’s Dawn (1967) which completely mesmerized me hanging on the wall – you’d have to see it. So, I already stopped for a while in the beginning and yes, I took pictures.) But if you have time, stopping won’t mind. Truly the best time to visit Ateneum is early in the afternoon and early in the week when the museum is not even slightly packed with people. Naturally museums are public spaces, however if I can plan it then I would visit when I have the chance to take in the whole space and then look at the artworks one by one. There it is, I can perfectly see it from afar and then up close.
Ateneum certainly offers this – the interesting gallery spaces that make you want to look through the whole space to see what is there, what is the feel of the room, and then view the artworks individually because the galleries are dedicated to various themes. Why not, then, spend an afternoon immersed in Finnish and international art? The artworks are worth merely looking at, whether they make us interested, uncomfortable or bewildered – like Paul Osipow’s Crunch (1965-1966). An educating experience can be another thing, but the main thing can and should be enjoying the spaces and what is displayed. Next time when you want to occupy your time with something that might be a good mental break, try visiting Ateneum in the early afternoon.