Tartu Art Museum. Tartu, Estonia

The history of the museum dates back to 1938, when the campaign aimed at collecting works for the exhibition was launched. The museum first opened its doors to visitors in 1940, preserving and promoting art ever since then.

Tartu Art Museum starts from the building known as the “Crooked House”, standing at a slight slope formed by groundwater. Due to extensive restoration work carried out, the building is no longer in danger of destruction.

The collection of Tartu Art Museum includes 25,000+ works of mostly Estonian artists, covering the period from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day. The museum does not have a permanent exhibition at the moment, therefore it regularly hosts temporary ones.

For example, one of these exhibitions is “Dreaming of Babylon” dedicated to the theme of sleep. It is an installation with a bed, as if just left, and the TV turned on and broadcasting films about dreams.

Another exhibition, “Landscape Passes Through the House”, explores the role, position and fate of landscapes in contemporary art. At the exhibition, you can see not only finished works, but also sketches, allowing one to dive deeper into the process of the artists’ work.

Two more exhibitions currently on display at the museum are “Scarred Visage” and “Look at Me! Listen to me!” The first is dedicated to the phenomenon of cultural memory and its loss. The second exhibition presents the work of Russian-speaking Estonian artists who explore issues of gender and ethnic stereotypes.

The museum has a library with more than 28,000 books covering various periods of art history, theory and museology, and catalogs of Estonian art exhibitions. Most of the publications can be borrowed for a while and explored.

Since the expositions change regularly, the museum can be visited several times a year, always suggesting something new to discover in the world of Estonian art.

Social networks will always keep you tuned:
www.facebook.com/tartmus
www.instagram.com/tartmus

Tartu, Estonia