The Finnish National Gallery Ateneum has reopened its doors after five months of closure due to Covid restrictions.
The museum will be closed from November 30, and the number of visitors will initially be limited to 60 per hour and six per room.
Currently, the Ateneum has a special exhibition that presents the most famous historical paintings of the Russian artist Ilja Repin (1844–1930). Due to the pandemic, the exhibition can only be accessed with a pre-purchased ticket, and only the third floor of the museum is open to visitors.
Advance tickets required
Ticket sales opened a week ago, and in the first few hours, I grabbed 5,000 tickets. The coming weeks are already sold out, but there are still plenty of tickets before the show closes at the end of August.
Repin is considered to be the most significant Russian artist of his time, depicting Russian people and the intellectuals of the era, and he has strongly influenced the Finnish perception of Russianness.
The contemporary painter, born in Ukraine, was domiciled on the Finnish side of the Terijoki River in Kuokkala in 1903–1930. During Repin in Kuokkala, he donated a hundred works of art to the museum director Ateneum. Marja Sakari told Yle.
The exhibition features more than 140 paintings and works, and most of the works are on display for the first time in Helsinki. After the Ateneum, the exhibition is on its way to Paris.
Museum Communications Manager, Johanna Eiramo, says that the desire for culture is high in Finland.
"I believe that the flood will open when we are able to reopen the cultural sector. I think people feel the need to get to know culture as long as it’s safe," Eiramo said.
Source: The Nordic Page
