Image: HAM Helsinki Art Museum
HAM will present Leena Luostarinen’s golden-period works from its collection together for the first time in a single display. ‘Leena Luostarinen: Misfit’ runs from 9 October 2026 to 4 April 2027 and is supplemented by loans from private and public collections.
The exhibition focuses on monumental paintings made during the period considered Luostarinen’s creative peak, spanning the 1980s and 1990s. Resting wild cats, references to various cultures, and personal messages permeate her large-scale, vibrantly coloured pieces. She soon became known for powerful paintings that visibly bear the marks of their making, from palette-knife traces to vigorous brushstrokes.
Luostarinen made her breakthrough in 1981 with a solo exhibition of large-scale feline predators. In 1988, she was named Finland’s Artist of the Year. Despite the acclaim she received, she often felt like an outsider, sensing that she neither belonged nor could conform; she travelled widely, driven by a longing for distant places, and, drawing on influences from many cultures, developed a compelling, recognisable style that resists categorisation.
Feline creatures guide visitors through the exhibition, which is arranged neither chronologically nor thematically. The exhibition architecture draws its colour scheme from Luostarinen’s paintings, while subtly mimicking the symmetrical floor plan of an imaginary temple.
The exhibition, radiating the power of bold brushstrokes, is curated by HAM’s Satu Metsola and Vilma Roine.
