The von Wright Brothers

The artist brothers Magnus, Wilhelm and Ferdinand von Wright are known as painters of portraits, landscapes, and nature subjects, especially birds, and as creators of scientific illustrations of flora and fauna. New contemporary works by Sanna Kannisto and Jussi Heikkilä complement this colourful major exhibition.

The von Wright Brothers exhibition is part of the programme for the centenary of Finland’s independence.

The exhibition introduces new perspectives, as it explores the historical significance of the von Wright brothers for Finnish art, culture and science. The exhibition features more than 300 works from the Ateneum collection, and from Finnish and Swedish public and private collections. The exhibition, occupying the entire third floor of the museum, features oil paintings, watercolours, prints and sketches. Exhibits also includes birds stuffed by Magnus von Wright, courtesy of the Finnish Museum of Natural History. The chief curator of the exhibition is Anne-Maria Pennonen, and the exhibition architecture is by Osmo Leppälä.

The brothers’ works are accompanied by new art by the photographic artist Sanna Kannisto (born 1974) and the conceptual artist Jussi Heikkilä (born 1952). Kannisto photographs nature subjects as still lifes, as she takes the photography studio out into nature. She sees herself as a kind of a collector, adding species, one after another, to her own collection. In his works, Heikkilä comments on the state of the earth and, above all, on the significance of birds as indicators of the state of the environment and the burden on the seas.