Art Museum of Estonia

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Art Museum of Estonia

The Art Museum of Estonia, founded in 1919, has by today grown into several museums: Kumu Art Museum, Kadriorg Art Museum, Mikkel Museum, Niguliste Museum and Adamson-Eric Museum.

Historical ecclesiastical art from the Middle Ages up to the Baroque period is displayed in the Niguliste Museum, foreign art from the 16th to 20th century is displayed in the Kadriorg Art Museum, the art collection of Johannes Mikkel in the Mikkel Museum, the art of Adamson-Eric, a modernist Estonian artist of the 20th century, is displayed in the Adamson-Eric Museum, and Estonian art from the 18th century until today is housed in the Kumu Art Museum. The collection of the Art Museum of Estonia is constantly supplemented by earlier art, as well as by contemporary art.

The Art Museum of Estonia (AME) is in charge of the largest art collection in Estonia, which includes works of art from medieval altarpieces to contemporary art. The collection, which currently includes almost 60,000 works of art, got its start in 1919 with the establishment of the AME (then the Tallinn Estonian Museum). Besides art, the museum in that period also collected other items, especially ethnographic material. Beginning in the mid-1920s, the focus turned to the collection of fine art and items related to cultural history. In 1926 a decision was made, according to which the Tallinn Estonian Museum was to transfer its ethnographic items to the Estonian National Museum and receive all the 19th and 20th century art from Tartu. This transaction did not actually take place until 1936.

The collections of the Art Museum of Estonia can be found on the Public Portal for the Estonian Museums at http://www.muis.ee. The art library of the AME is available on the Internet at www.ester.ee, The digital collection, which is constantly supplemented, has been made available to those who wish to use the high-quality pictorial files. During an average year, we answer approximately a thousand queries about Estonian artists and works of art, and the art expertise service that operates from our conservation department can help when more in-depth information is required.

Kumu is the headquarters of the Art Museum of Estonia, as well as the largest and most impressive exhibition venue in Estonia. The museum opened on 17 February 2006. In 2008 Kumu received the European Museum of the Year Award. This is a noteworthy international recognition of Kumu’s aspiration to become a truly contemporary art museum, which is not just dedicated to collection, conservation and exposition, but is a multifunctional space for active mental activity, from educational programmes for small children to discussions about the nature and meaning of art in the modern world. The international dimension occupies a very important place in Kumu’s activities. Half the rotating exhibitions (a total of 11 or 12 larger exhibitions are organised annually in the four exhibition halls) deal with Estonian art, and the other half with international historical art and modern art.
It is Kumu’s ambition to constantly participate in the Estonian and international art worlds, to which a contribution is made by the 250-seat auditorium, with its film programme, performances, concerts, seminars and conferences, the educational centre, with programmes and courses directed at various age groups, and the library, with the widest selection of art literature in Estonia.

The Kadriorg Art Museum introduces, preserves and collects early foreign art – primarily western European and Russian paintings, graphic arts, sculpture and applied arts. The museum is located in Kadriorg Park in Tallinn, in a Baroque palace built by Tsar Peter the Great of Russia as a summer residence.
The Kadriorg Art Museum is the only museum in Estonia devoted to foreign art. Estonia’s largest collection of western European and Russian art (about 9,000 works of art from the 16th to 20th centuries) is located here. The Mikkel Museum houses the collection of paintings, graphic arts and porcelain donated to the museum by the private collector Johannes Mikkel (1907–2006).

The Niguliste Museum is one of the few northern European museums located in a former church, where ecclesiastical art can be enjoyed in its historical context. Late medieval altarpieces and wooden sculptures form the core of the collection. The best-known work in the museum is the Danse Macabre painted by Bernt Notke at the end of the 15th century. A large part of the exposition is comprised of post-Reformation ecclesiastical art from the 16th–17th centuries. The historical collection of the chandeliers of the church, as well as tombstones from the medieval and Early Modern periods, can be seen in the museum.

The museum is dedicated to Adamson-Eric (1902–1968), one of the most versatile creative personalities in Estonian art in the 20th century. Mainly known as a brilliant painter, he was also skilled in nearly all fields of applied art. The building of the A

Adamson-Eric museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Adamson-Eric museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Kadriorg Art Museum, gallery, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Kadriorg Art Museum, gallery, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Kadriorg Art Museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Kadriorg Art Museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Kadriorg Art Museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Kadriorg Art Museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Kadriorg Art Museum, Great hall, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Kadriorg Art Museum, Great hall, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Niguliste Museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Niguliste Museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Niguliste Musuem, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Niguliste Musuem, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Niguliste museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Niguliste museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Mikkel museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Mikkel museum, photo by Stanislav Stepashko

Kumu Art Museum, photo by Kaido Haagen

Kumu Art Museum, photo by Kaido Haagen

Kumu Art Museum, photo by Kaido Haagen

Kumu Art Museum, photo by Kaido Haagen

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See and Do

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Contact

Art Museum of Estonia
Weizenbergi 34/Valge 1
Tallinn
Estonia
10127
Estonia
+372 5629 9959
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