The museum, comprising five sites around Tallinn, hosts around 20 exhibitions at a time. In addition to permanent exhibitions, all of the museums also host thematic temporary exhibitions.
Kumu Art Museum
With its modern architecture and fascinating permanent exhibitions of Estonian art, the Kumu Art Museum can be called the home of Estonian art, as it exhibits the most important works of Estonian art history. The permanent exhibitions of Kumu present Estonian art through three centuries: from the golden age of 18th-century classics to the pivotal art of the 1990s.
On 7 February the international exhibition They Began to Talk will open in the Kumu Art Museum. This group exhibition is concerned with the speech of the body, taking the intertwinement of the body and the environment as its point of departure. Through the work of primarily contemporary artists, the exhibition asks: How does art enable us to cultivate a sense of connection in an era of drastic environmental change and inequality?
Kadriorg Art Museum
One of the gems of the gorgeous Kadriorg Park is the Kadriorg Art Museum, housed in an 18th-century baroque palace.
The permanent exhibition at the Kadriorg Art Museum presents the best of foreign art from the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia: Western European and Russian paintings, graphic art, sculpture and applied art from the 16th–20th centuries.
Mikkel Museum
Established in the former kitchen building of Kadriorg Palace, the Mikkel Museum focuses on presenting private collections and reflecting on the collecting of art in general. The core of the museum’s permanent exhibition is a side-by-side display of European and Chinese ceramics and porcelain, as well as Western European paintings from the collection of the art collector Johannes Mikkel.
Until the beginning of May, you can visit the exhibition Sooster 100: View from Private Collections. The exhibition at the Mikkel Museum is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Ülo Sooster’s birth, and offers a selection of works from private collections by the playful and original artist and one of the most important innovators in Estonian post-war modernism.
Niguliste Museum
While in the Old Town of Tallinn, every art and history lover should visit the Niguliste Museum, which displays the best of mediaeval and post-Reformation ecclesiastical art in Estonia.
The museum in the medieval church houses some of Estonia’s star works of medieval and early modern art, including late medieval altar retables from northern Germany and the Netherlands, and the Dance of Death, painted in Bernt Notke’s workshop at the end of the 15th century. The painting Dance of Death is unique: it is the only surviving mediaeval dance of death in the world painted on canvas. Of particular value is the silverware from churches, guilds and the Brotherhood of the Blackheads.
Until the beginning of April, you can also see the exhibition Unicorn in the Magical Forest. The exhibition brings to Estonia rare royal unicorns from the Swedish Royal Armoury; it is also possible to view special unicorns from the museums of Estonia and private collections.
The glass lift in the historic church tower of the museum takes you to the sky-deck, where you can enjoy a unique view of the city of Tallinn and its bay.
Adamson-Eric Museum
The Adamson-Eric Museum, located on romantic Lühike jalg street, is a special oasis of art in the middle of the Old Town of Tallinn.
The permanent exhibition at the Adamson-Eric Museum gives an overview of the works of Adamson-Eric (1902–1968), one of the most versatile Estonian artists, vividly reflecting the development of Estonian painting and applied art over more than four decades.
This spring, the museum will also host the exhibition Azulejos: The Pearls of Portugal. The exhibition introduces the rich history and artistic diversity of the Portuguese ceramic tiles called azulejos.
Bernardo Strozzi (1582–1644). The Viola da Gamba Player (Barbara Strozzi (1619‒1677)(?)). Ca 1638–1640. Oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Bernardo Strozzi exhibition opens in Tallinn on 29 March 2025
Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio exhibition
Art Museum of Estonia – Kadriorg Art Museum, Tallinn
29 March – 6 July 2025
In 2025 the Art Museum of Estonia – Kadriorg Art Museum will organise a comprehensive exhibition of the works of the Italian painter of the early Baroque, Bernardo Strozzi (1582–1644) in Tallinn. The exhibition will be co-curated by Anna Orlando from Genoa, a distinguished scholar specialising in Bernardo Strozzi and 17th century art culture in Genoa, and Greta Koppel, a curator at the Kadriorg Art Museum.
The Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio exhibition (29 March – 6 July 2025) will bring together around 45 paintings and graphic works from this highly talented and versatile Italian artist, from European museums and from private collections, including masterpieces that have not been publicly displayed before. It is the first time that the two famous masterpieces by Strozzi, The Allegory of Painting (ca. 1635, Palazzo Spinola, Genoa) and the Portrait of Barbara Strozzi (?) (ca. 1640, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) will be shown together.
The recent conservation of a Bernardo Strozzi painting (The Concert, ca. 1635) in the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia brought the topic of Strozzi’s painting technique and studio practice under closer scrutiny.
As the title of the exhibition ‒ Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio – indicates, this exhibition focuses attention on this outstanding painter, who was active in the age of Caravaggio and rode the wave of Caravaggio’s popularity, but managed to leave his own highly individual artistic signature.
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