Perpetual Summer

In the northern hemisphere, we enjoy four seasons. The extremes are the cold and short daylight hours of winter and the warmth of summer with its long, bright days and nights. Every season brings memories and emotions, but, for many people, summer is their favourite season. It is looked forward to and longed for throughout the year. The summer is short and intense, which underlines its special nature. As July draws to a close, a sense of summer’s end begins to creep in.

Countless songs and poems have been written about longing and waiting for summer. Nature and landscapes have been a central theme in also Finnish art since the 19th century. Forests, fields, lakes, blustery seashores, and the fells of Lapland filtered through the interpretations of the artists and appeared on canvases. It was also the time when fairly stable ideas emerged about what kind of landscape people liked. The summer landscape is one of the subjects classified as beautiful.

The works on display are part of the collection of the Viipuri Friends of Art Association. In 2025, the association will celebrate its 135th anniversary. It was founded in Viipuri (Vyborg) in 1890. In the early years, the aim of the Viipuri Friends of Art Association was to establish a school for drawing, to collect art and to educate people about art. In 1952, the collection was preserved in the Hämeenlinna Art Museum. Later, the association transferred some of the works to the South Karelia Art Museum, now the Lappeenranta Art Museum. The association is active to this day and the art collection continues to be accumulated every year.

The works in the ‘Ainainen kesä’ exhibition are on loan from the Hämeenlinna and Lappeenranta art museums. More than 70 works by over 50 artists will be on display. The artists in the exhibition include Gunnar Berndtson, Eva Cederström, Magnus Enckell, Pekka Halonen, Eero Järnefelt, Hjalmar Munsterhjelm, Elias Muukka, Hugo Simberg, Ellen Thesleff, Victor Westerholm and Maria Wiik.

Photo: Hjalmar Munsterhjelm, Early morning by Lake Saimaa, 1890, oil on canvas. Deposit of the Vyborg Friends of Art, Lappeenranta Art Museum. Photo Lappeenranta Museums, 2019.

The Transient, Pink Twins At Kino-Poikilo 6 February–27 April 2025