Ateneum

For similarly named entities, seeAthenaeum (disambiguation).

Ateneum

Ateneum art museum
Interactive fullscreen map
Established	1887(1887)
Location	Helsinki,Finland
Coordinates	60°10′12″N024°56′39″E
Type	Art museum
Key holdings	The Wounded Angel,Lemminkäinen's Mother,Ainotriptych,Raatajat rahanalaiset (Kaski),Street in Auvers-sur-Oise
Collection size	4,300+ paintings, 750+ sculptures
Visitors	400 000 (2012)
Director	Marja Sakari (2018–)
Website	ateneum.fi

Ateneumis anart museuminHelsinki,Finlandand one of the three museums forming theFinnish National Gallery.It is located in the centre of Helsinki on the south side ofRautatientorisquare close toHelsinki Central railway station.It has the biggest collections of classical art in Finland. Before 1991 the Ateneum building also housed the FinnishAcademy of Fine ArtsandUniversity of Art and Design Helsinki.

Exhibition of the Finnish Art Society at Ateneum in 1915

Collections

The collections of Ateneum include Finnish art extensively from 18th-century rococo portraiture to the experimental art movements of the 20th century. The collections also include some 650 international works of art. One of them isVincent van Gogh'sStreet in Auvers-sur-Oise(1890), which when deposited to Ateneum in 1903 made it the first museum collection in the world to include a Vincent van Gogh painting.Other notable works includeAlbert Edelfelt’sThe Luxembourg Garden(1887),Akseli Gallen-Kallela’sAino Triptych(1891),Eero Järnefelt’sUnder the Yoke (Burning the Brushwood)(1893) andHugo Simberg’sWounded Angel(1903).

Notable works

• 
  The Road Bridge atL'Estaque,Paul Cézanne,1879–1882
• 
  The FightingCapercaillies,Ferdinand von Wright,1886
• 
  Women Outside the Church atRuokolahti,Albert Edelfelt,1887
• 
  The Convalescent,Helene Schjerfbeck,1888
• 
  Street inAuvers-sur-Oise,Vincent van Gogh,1890
• 
  Aino Myth,Triptych,Akseli Gallen-Kallela,1891
• 
  Under the Yoke (Burning the Brushwood),Eero Järnefelt,1893
• 
  The Wounded Angel,Hugo Simberg,1903
• 
  Bathing Men,Edvard Munch,1907–1908
• 
  Portrait of the ArtistLéopold Survage,Amedeo Modigliani,1918

Architecture

The Ateneum building was designed byTheodor Höijerand completed in 1887.

The facade of Ateneum is decorated with statues and reliefs which contain a lot of symbols. Above the main entrance, in the second floor, are busts of three famous classical artists: architectBramante,painterRaphaeland sculptorPhidias.Above the busts, in the third floor, fourcaryatidssupport the pediment. These symbolize the four classical art forms: sculpture, painting, geometry, and architecture.The facade culminates in a collage of sculptures in which the Goddess of Art,Pallas Athene,blesses the products of the different art forms. Below the pediment's collage is the Latin phraseConcordia res parvae crescunt(With concord small things increase), which is usually understood in Helsinki to refer to the long-lasting battle of the Finnish art circles in order to establish the museum. All the statues were byCarl Eneas Sjöstrand.

In between the second floor windows are 16 medallion-style reliefs byVille Vallgrenrepresenting some of Finland's most well known creative people of his day, including painterAleksander Lauréus,Werner Holmbergand the architectCarl Ludvig Engel.Other ornamental elements were sculpted byMagnus von Wright.

The Ateneum building is owned bySenate Properties(Finnish:Senaatti-kiinteistöt), the government real estate provider.

• 
  The center sculptures of the facade were sculpted byCarl Eneas Sjöstrandin the 1880s.
• 
  "Goddess of Art" andCaryatids
• 
  Busts of the three greats:Raphael,PhidiasandBramante
• 
  16 artist medallions on the facade byVille Vallgren,1887
• 
  Apollo and MarsyasbyWalter Runebergin 1874, located in the lobby

See also

• Finnish National Gallery
• Kiasma
• Sinebrychoff Art Museum
• Finnish art
• List of national galleries

External links

• Ateneum Art MuseumwithinGoogle Arts & Culture
• Media related toAteneumat Wikimedia Commons