Petri Ala-Maunus and Mauno Markkula: Blazing Sky

HAM looks after an art collection that belongs to all residents of Helsinki. The new collection space presents the collection in a more extensive and innovative way. The space is based on the Bäcksbacka collections, whose key artists include Mauno Markkula. Markkula’s works from the 1940s and 1950s now enter into an interesting dialogue with Petri Ala-Maunus’ paintings from the 2010s and 2020s. The exhibition takes visitors to surreal landscapes amid storms of color.

Petri Ala-Maunus (b. 1970) is known for his large-scale, detailed landscape paintings. He began painting landscapes at a time when the subject was considered rather old-fashioned, yet he recognised in it a means to explore intense human emotions: wonder, melancholy, and the pull of the sublime. His works do not depict specific places, but rather fictional landscapes, inspired by art history, encounters with nature, photographs, and record cover art.

Mauno Markkula (1905–1959) was one of the most distinctive and original artists of his era. His vibrant shades of red, yellow, and green earned the artist the nickname “colour mystic”. For Markkula, a landscape was an experience rather than a view. An avid walker and observer of nature, he rarely painted outdoors. His works depict inner visions – experiences that distilled slowly in his mind.