Opposites attract this summer in the art exhibitions in Porvoo Museum

The oil paintings by Albert Edelfelt that belong to Porvoo Museum’s collections are on display in the main hall of the Old Town Hall, while the smaller hall houses an exhibition of about 60 150-year-old miniature silhouettes. On the other side of the street in Holm House visitors can see contemporary art in an exhibition that is part of the Porvoo Triennale.

– The opposites in this summer’s exhibitions create interesting tension, as you move from contemporary art to the 1800s or from large oil paintings to miniature silhouettes. An additional spark is created by the fact that Edelfelt is world-famous, while the silhouette cutter Wilhelm Boije is an early Outsider artist, sums museum director Johanna Lehto-Vahtera.

The exhibitions in the Old Town Hall are open until the year 2026. Porvoo Triennale: Space Is A Common Thing -exhibition ends at the end of August.

Albert Edelfelt 170

This year it will be 170 years since the birth of the artist Albert Edelfelt. Artworks by Edelfelt from the museum’s collection will be on display to its full extent. The celebratory exhibition is curated by researcher Lillemor Jordas and museum lector Margaretha Jämbäck.

– The museum’s Edelfelt-collection includes in addition to artworks objects that belonged to the family. The most significant parts of the collection was donated by the artist’s sisters Berta and Annie Edelfelt in 1934, Jordas explains.

– In addition to the familiar and beloved artworks the exhibition includes objects that are not on display as often, such as Edelfelt’s artist’s tools and drawings he made as a child, adds Jämbäck.

Edelfelt was born in Porvoo, and he always returned to the city to spend his summers, which included working in his studio in Haikkoo. During the year 2024 Albert Edelfelt’s Studio Museum is also celebrating the occasion.

The long outline forms a silhouette

The artist of the Silhouette. The Long Outline -exhibition is the lord of Treksilä Manor, district judge Wilhelm Boije af Gennäs (1804–1888). Boije was self-taught, and he depicted landscapes in miniature size. Images cut from paper with scissors take you to the era of Romanticism, and the exhibition enables visitors to be immersed in their meticulous details. The curators of the exhibition are museum director Johanna Lehto-Vahtera and communications assistant Inari Porkka.

– Boije depicted his environment by cutting silhouettes, and he sent his images to his friends and relatives in letters. Nowadays people can take photos with their cell phones and send those to their friends. I think this is the same kind of humane impulse at play, says Porkka.

The research behind the exhibition takes the exhibition visitors to the 19th century, and reveals Boije’s network of family and friends. It is their descendants that have found many of the letters and silhouettes in the exhibition among their belongings. Boije’s work also leads the exhibition to the world of silhouette art in general. Silhouettes were an easy and cheap art form in the 1700s and 1800s, which was ultimately replaced by photography.   

Space is a common thing

Porvoo Museum welcomes Porvoo Triennal to Holm House, on the first floor of which are exhibited works by Mette Björnberg and Jenni Tuominen.

Porvoo Museum is open June-August every day 11–18. The exceptions to the opening times during public holidays can be found at www.porvoonmuseo.fi. 

Sunday 9.6.2024 at 13–16 in the garden of Holm House a non-stop workshop for the whole family, where you cut silhouettes inspired by the flowers, trees and bugs. There is a marquee in case of rain.

Sunday  9.6.2024 guided tours in the Silhouette. The Long Outline -exhibition in the Old Town Hall, at 13.30 in Finnish and at 14.30 in Swedish.

The workshop and the guided tours are free for the participants, entrance half price for adults accompanied by children.