Ateneum renovation completed and the museum opens after a year’s break – here’s what it looks like

/ Culture

The year-long renovation of the Ateneum Art Museum is complete. The museum opens to the public on Friday. Beloved favourites will be joined by never-before-seen works.

The Ateneum Art Museum in central Helsinki has been closed for a year.

In connection with the renovation, 90 solar panels were installed on the roof of the building. They reduce the need for purchased energy.

The whole project cost almost €18 million.

– The renovation was absolutely necessary. The house is old and requires renovation from time to time. The previous renovation was in the 1980s, says Marja Sakari.

Ateneum's chief conservator Kirsi Hiltunen and the statues in Ateneum's lobby.
Conservator Kirsi Hiltunen cleans the statue in the lobby.

The art museum will open to the public after a long break next Friday, April 14.

At the same time, the Ateneum is finishing up a new collection exhibition called *Question of Time*, which opens at the same time.

*It* replaces the art museum’s previous collection exhibition *The Story of Finnish Art*, which opened in 2016.

– The world has changed substantially since then. There has been covid and there is still the war in Ukraine.

– We wanted the changing society to be reflected in our exhibition as well, says Marja Sakari.

Ateneum Art Museum exhibition space.
This is how it looks in the new hall, themed “Time of Nature”.
Ferdinand von Wright's Pigs and Magpies (1875) on the wall of the Ateneum Art Museum.
The hall contains works such as Ferdinand von Wright’s Pigs and Magpies (1875).

*Question of time* is divided into four themes: Nature’s time, People’s pictures, Modern life and Art in power.

The idea is to address the visitors with current themes and topics. Such are, among others, nature conservation and climate disaster.

– We did not want to compile a chronological history of Finnish art, he adds.

Some of the works have been exhibited only rarely or never.

Reidar Särestöniemi's work Punabartainen jänkä (1970) and the device used to measure indoor air.
Reidar Särestöniemi’s Red Rabbit (1970). In front of it is an indoor air measuring device.
Unto Koistinen's work Mustat kuhilaat (1959) and a device designed to measure indoor air.
The temperature and lighting in the exhibition halls are carefully controlled to ensure the safety of the work. In the centre, Unto Koistinen’s Black Cowbirds (1959).

Ateneum is responsible for the care of Finnish art, a total of almost 30,000 works. The oldest are from the 18th century.

In addition to *Toipila*, the exhibition also includes other classic works. We wanted to leave the public’s favorites on display.

– They can be found in the exhibition. There is *Fighting Mets, Aino’s Tale and Lemminkäinen’s Mother*, Timo Huusko lists the names of the most famous paintings.

– Already in the planning phase, it was clear that they would stay.

Yle cinematographer Berislav Jurisic shoots Helene Scherfbeck's work Toipilas (1888).
Helene Schjerfbeck’s oil painting is a sensitive depiction of a sick child.
Renovation in the Ateneum Art Museum.
Timo Huusko’s painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Mother of the Blighter (1897), is the second work from the left.

When the same exhibition was on display in Paris last year, it was seen by almost 140,000 visitors.

– Will Edelfelt become Ateneum’s spring hit?

– Let’s hope and believe, says Marja Sakari.

Ateneum Art Museum Director Marja Sakari and curator Timo Huusko.
Behind Ateneum Art Museum’s director Marja Sakari and curator Timo Huusko is Toni R. Toivonen’s contemporary artwork Giving Birth and Dying Still (2016).
Ateneum Art Museum in gray spring weather.
The museum director hopes that the Ateneum will not need a renovation “for at least twenty years”.

*Atheneum is part of the National Gallery, which also includes Kiasma and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum.*