Visual arts | Finnish art is of unprecedented interest in the world, and it's no coincidence, says Ateneum's new director

Developer, not the blaster. I saw the picture Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff his upcoming task as director of the Ateneum Art Museum. Before this, he has worked at Ateneum as an intendant since 2013.

“I'm not about to blow everything to pieces, because I've been building the current exhibition and research activities for the past five years and mainly acted as the main factor in international activities,” he says.

“Now my plot is changing, but we are together with the staff and the previous manager Marja Sakarin were planning the future with. I see that I am moving things forward.”

Von Bonsdorff The beginning of the leadership campaign coincides with a great moment in Ateneum's history. In 2023 Ateneum set its all-time attendance record, even though the entire beginning of the year the museum was closed due to renovations. The doors were only opened in April, but still the threshold of half a million visitors was crossed in early December.

The reason for the public rush was last year's attraction nail exhibitions, which ended in September Albert Edelfelt -exhibition and the one that started after that and is still ongoing Color and light – the legacy of Impressionism.

Von Bonsdorff says that it is hardly possible to reach such numbers of visitors every year, and he does not feel any particular pressure to achieve them either.

“No, because we only have one Edelfelt and Impressionism. Some shows maybe draw more people and can bring in people who don't normally go to shows. The classics are a very important part of our exhibition activities, and I want to continue it. But at the same time I want to create new classics,” says von Bonsdorff.

Exhibitions in addition to artistic content, experientiality and setting are also important in museums. Visitors should feel important and welcome, says von Bonsdorff.

“Even from last year's visitor numbers, you can see that people long to get back to museums, to see and meet. People also come to museums to have fun, to spend time. We're competing for the same time slot as the movie theaters and everything else. We at Ateneum have invested in this, especially since we have renovated public spaces and opened a new cafe upstairs.”

In autumn Café Höijer, which opened on the third floor of the Ateneum, has been well received, for example From HS's restaurant critic. As in many other museums, Ateneum invests in ensuring that visitors stay in the building for a long time and feel the house as their own. And it requires more than a peek at the exhibition, says von Bonsdorff.

“And this great breakthrough is also due to the Museum Card. It has lowered the threshold and many go to see the exhibition many times.”

The audience profile shows a lot of people over 50, but the age structure is rejuvenated by groups of schoolchildren and children who come to exhibitions with their grandparents.

“A significant part of our museum's guests are children and young people,” says von Bonsdorff. He refers to the museum's school software, which brings children and young people to the museum and also takes art to educational institutions as part of schoolwork.

“I would say that we have also started to interest people aged 18-35. You can see them posing at exhibitions, and they have even become interested in the architecture of this house. And we invest in them by organizing, for example, student events and clubs.”

Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff belongs to a well-known and traditional cultural family, which has especially included scientists. He himself envisioned a career as an archaeologist, but during his studies he tried curating an exhibition and realized that he wanted to make that his profession. He changed his major to art history, in which he also eventually got his doctorate.

Even in his work as a museum director, he relies on researched information, on the basis of which exhibitions are built. For example, seen at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2019 Helene Schjerfbeck -exhibition was based on many years of work by art historians.

“In my previous job as Ateneum's intendant, I was responsible for research projects. I have been doing a lot of interaction between universities and art museums and participated in its development,” says von Bonsdorff.

Even after the Schjerfbeck exhibition, Finnish art has attracted the interest of the world. Since then, the Albert Edelfelt exhibition has toured in different countries, which before last year was seen in Paris and Gothenburg, from where it finally moved to the Ateneum.

“We have built a bigger Classics for the World series, the first of which was Albert Edelfelt's exhibition. There are other artists coming, and we have received additional help from the Jane and Aatos Erko Foundation for better preparatory work. In other words, we have created a new concept of making, with the help of which, together with foreign museums, we make openings of Finnish art in the world.”

Finnish exporting art abroad is central to von Bonsdorff's work as museum director.

“Our big vision is that we make Finnish art known. It belongs to the duties of the National Gallery.”

Recently, this has become easier than before, because the world is interested in Finnish Fine Art in an unprecedented way, says von Bonsdorff. Now we are already in a situation where Finnish art does not even need to be exported abroad in a particularly strong way, but it will be asked for.

“It's not about someone being foreign and exotic from somewhere in Finland, but we are part of a wider cultural interest. For example, in food culture, Nordic cuisine has been booming for a long time. It's kind of the same thing as in the movie world. When Tove-film got publicity, so the next time is already on display Dead leaves”, von Bonsdorff says.

“And it can be seen in the fact that our works are lent to the world more than ever before.”

Next the goal is to expand the image of Finnish visual art from Schjerfbeck and Edelfelt to others. At the moment, the world is interested in Schjerfbeck and other Finnish women artists – for example, the Women's Masters exhibition at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid is currently on loan from the Ateneum by Helene Schjerbeck and Elin Danielson-Gambog works.

“This is the result of a really long time. We have been building internationality since 2010. I am already the fourth museum director to continue this.”

In the case of female artists in particular, the research roots go back even further, to the 1980s, when Riitta Konttinen researchers like began to systematically study them. A solid foundation has been born from it, on which exhibitions can be built.

“It's a new emerging trend in the world. Finland has been completely ahead of the curve even from a Nordic perspective. And female artists are still being discovered, the research has not stopped anywhere. We have an early women's themed exhibition coming up in 2025, focusing on the generations before Schjerfbeck. It started as a research project and continues as an exhibition, which will partly continue to Düsseldorf.”

Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff's directorship is for a five-year term. He says that the plans for the whole season are already in good shape: the 2027 program is currently being made. He cannot tell about the next exhibitions until they are announced next fall.

But by the end of his directorship five years from now, i.e. the end of 2028, he has a clear goal.

“Then I hope that Finnish art will be widely known in the world and I hope that we will grow new generations who want to come to Ateneum to experience and see what we have to offer.”