105. Regional Travel #1.6 - Helsinki's Ateneum Museum

The Ateneum Museum - another branch of the Finnish National Gallery - is located across the street from the Helsinki train station, so it seemed a good place to conclude our visit to Finland's capital before returning to St. Petersburg. The impressive museum building was constructed in 1887, and represented a considerable public investment at the time, especially given Finland's economy and political status as an autonomous Grand Duchy governed by Russia. Originally, the museum housed several art schools and related collections.

Today, the Ateneum Museum galleries concentrate in two fields: the second floor houses 19th century European painting (with a strong emphasis on Finnish artists) and the third floor exhibits Finnish architecture and design. I wouldn't say I was bored with the latter, but it's definitely not my main interest in the world of art. I loved a lot of the artwork on the second floor, though. Finnish art is rare at most museums I've been to - even elsewhere in Europe - so I was not previously familiar with most of the artists in the collection, nor of much of the historical or social context of their subject matter.

"Street in Auvers-sur-Oise" was one of Vincent van Gogh's final paintings, created in 1890. In 1903, the Ateneum Museum took possession of it, and thereby became the first museum in the world to own a van Gogh: