Kuopio Art Museum
Kuopio Art Museum is the regional art museum of Nothern Savo Province. The museum responds for the visual art services, including exhibitions, research and documentation of visual arts in the area. Art education plays a central role in the museum activities.
The art collections include primarily Finnish art from the end of the 1900th century to the present. Art museum presents continuously special exhibitions, mainly Finnish contemporary art: paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and media art. The main themes of the museum’s collections and exhibitions are landscape and nature, and the relationship between man and his environment.
Art Museum is situated in the very centre of Kuopio in a former bank building, nearby the Market Square and the Cathedral.
Opening hours
The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday – Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Closed on Monday.
Admission fee
€ 8/5, free admission for persons under 18.
Exhibitions
The Artist’s View
Perspectives in the Collections of Kuopio Art Museum
Kuopio Art Museum’s extensive exhibition of its collections is called The Artist’s View. It presents a range of art from the museum’s collections, which contain around 7,000 works. The exhibition features works from the early decades of Finnish art to the present day.
Art tells us how artists have viewed their environment, people, and their inner selves at different times. Visual observation alternates with emotional experience in the artists’ work. The prevailing ideologies of the time are also reflected in artistic expression.
The exhibition is divided into six topics. The Nature section shows how environmentally critical commentary from contemporary artists has taken up its place alongside depictions of traditional romantic nature experiences and pure observations of landscapes. Urban Life introduced admiration for technology and mechanical culture, construction, architecture, and an abstract idiom to art. The depiction of People in art is a timeless theme. Portraits express the artist’s sensitivity and ability to see their models’ personal character and various emotions. The collection’s Classics remind us of a time when they, too, were contemporary art. Kuopio Art Museum’s large collection of Graphic Art showcases works from the late 20th century employing elements of painting and photographic art. The changing Contemporary Art section contains examples of the neo-expressionism of the 1980s and the rise of painting both in Finland and abroad.
M_itä? Biennale of Contemporary Art
14 September 2019 – 2 February 2020
The M_itä? Biennale of Contemporary Art is an overview of contemporary art which will be held every two years in East Finland. Its name is an acronym of the Finnish words mitä (what) and itä (east). The first biennale at the Kuopio Art Museum will bring together both established artists with long careers and a younger generation in the field. The selections were made on the basis of portfolio meetings held in Kuopio, Mikkeli and Joensuu. Representatives of the participating art museums, curator Laura Köönikkä and artist and researcher Jyrki Siukonen met with 76 professional artists of East Finland. The biennale process includes support for the work of artists in preparing for the exhibition, networking and making use of the exhibition while it is open to the public. The next biennale will be in Mikkeli in 2021 and the third biennale will be held in 2023 in Joensuu.