On August 20, the exhibition ''Estonian Painting in the 20th Century'' will be opened in Paris under the patronage of President Lennart Meri so that the Parisians and the French could have a closer look at the Estonian art of painting in the past century, which managed to maintain its strong roots in the 19th-century French art despite the Soviet occupation.

The exhibition will include works of 35 Estonian artists; 16 of them exhibiting works from the time before World War II and 19 from the time after World War II. The oldest painting is by Konrad Mägi from 1914, and the most recent paintings are from the year 2000. All in all, 70 paintings will be exhibited. The exhibition of Estonian paintings in the Orangery of the French Senate will be open until September 2.

On August 30, President Meri will be presenting the exhibition in the Luxembourg Garden of the Paris Senate. In the year 2000, the exhibition ''Estonian Painting at the Turn of the Millennium'' was open in the Tallinn Art House, and also in the Lichthof of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin. Thirteen paintings from that exhibition will be included in the exhibition in Paris.

The exhibition will be supported by the President of the Republic's Cultural Foundation.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, June 7, 2001

back | archive of press releases | main page