Art works on the theme of ‘peace’ 

The Finnish National Gallery has chosen peace as the Finnish Metagallery’s theme for 2023. Ten Finnish and two Ukrainian works have been selected for the gallery located in the virtual world Decentraland. The works address the theme of peace from several perspectives and peace is manifested in them in many ways: some works portray a longing for peace, while the atmosphere in others makes the viewer’s heart beat a little slower. Some may lead their thoughts to the themes of peace through symbols. Peace can be, for example, a feeling of safety, calmness, silence, happiness, rest, or the opposite of war. The Finnish Metagallery invites visitors to think about their own perception of peace or the lack thereof.

Opportunity to help Ukraine during the war 

The peace themed art includes two pieces from the National Art Museum of Ukraine: Cossack Mamai (1855) by Petro Rybka and Annunciation (1907-1908) by Oleksandr Murashko. Both art works belong to the collection of the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU). NAMU and Patron-of-Art.com have created a limited number of NFT versions (unique digital versions) of the works. The proceeds from selling the NFTs will be used to support the National Art Museum of Ukraine, e.g. to protect and restore the collection and possibly to strengthen the museum building. 

 The NFT versions of the works can be purchased from the Patron-of-Art.com “Compounding the humanitarian crisis is a threat to cultural heritage”, says Yuliia Lytvynet, Director of the National Art Museum of Ukraine. “Partnerships with organisations such as Patron-of-Art.com provide direct support in our efforts to protect our museum’s collection for the duration of this war as well as during the reconstruction period.” 

 “The human suffering of the Ukrainian people, in the middle of the war, is horrific. Art is a central part of a nation’s visual story, and it needs to be protected as well as is possible. We hope that lovers of culture from all over the world will join us in saving the art treasures of Ukraine”, says Johanna Eiramo, Director of the Digital National Gallery programme.

Background: 

Decentraland

Decentraland is a virtual world based on blockchain technology. The group responsible for its Museum District donated a virtual plot of land to the Finnish National Gallery for a limited period of time, free of charge. The Metagallery pavilion was created by the design and innovation studio Adventure Club using open source code. The pavilion model will be freely available for anyone to use after the Decentraland pavilion closes its doors. The Finnish Metagallery is free for everyone and you do not have to pay anything to experience it. 

Sitra 

Sitra is a fund for the future with a vision and goal that Finland will prosper by building a fair and inspiring future. Sitra and the Finnish National Gallery want to promote the development of web 3.0 so that it can be built on the principles of sustainable development, openness and co-creation. 

Collections of the Finnish National Gallery

Many of the works in the Finnish National Gallery’s collection are already available as images on the National Gallery’s website at kansallisgalleria.fi. More than 24,000 of these images are published under a CC0 licence, which allows anyone to download and use the images on the site as they choose.