Image: Rovaniemi Art Museum
Rovaniemi Art Museum is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2026, and its varied anniversary programme is set to reach its culmination with a celebratory week taking place from 13 to 18 October 2026. At the centre of the anniversary year is ‘Kunniavieraat’, a wide-ranging exhibition assembled from the collection of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation and on view from 27 March 2026 through 14 February 2027.
‘Kunniavieraat’ brings together works, memories and perspectives from the museum’s early stages to the present day, combining classics with works that are less frequently seen; the exhibition forms a tribute to the artists, the collection and the audience.
The museum’s history began on 17 October 1986, when the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation donated its art collection to the City of Rovaniemi. That collection, which originally comprised approximately 500 works, has grown into an ensemble of about 4,000 works offering a comprehensive view of the development of Finnish art from the 1940s to the present day.
The anniversary week opens with the launch of the museum history ‘Virtojen hioma – Rovaniemen taidemuseo 40 vuotta’ on Wednesday 14 October at 1 p.m., followed by the 40th-anniversary seminar on Thursday 15 October (12.30–5 p.m., free entry), with speakers including Susanna Pettersson, Kaija Kaitavuori, Juhani Pallasmaa and Kimmo Levä; the Tahiti conference on Finnish art history and collection research on Friday 16 October; and an open-doors day with free admission on Saturday 17 October, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Iiri Poteri’s performance installation ‘Kuiskaus’ is on view at the museum throughout the week.
The museum is also collecting visitors’ memories from its 40-year history, inviting recollections of exhibitions, artworks, workshops and events—anything that comes to mind from those experiences.
