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President of the Republic on the Opening of the Art Exhibition ''Estonian Art at the Turn of the Millennium'' at the Tallinn Art House on August 11, 2000
11.08.2000

Dear colleagues and dear guests,
I will say a couple of words about time, fashion, and art.

There is no art without fashion.
And yet fashion without art can be encountered.
The relationship is quite similar to that of an event to history.
There is no history without events.
And yet there are plenty of events that will never become part of history.

Fashion is relatively easy to manipulate. Under normal circumstances, this is done by the market, and under the totalitarian circumstances by the official ideology and its bureaucrats.

It is far more difficult to manipulate art.

An artist may be at the mercy of the bureaucracy, but unlike bureaucrats, he has the possibility of self-realisation - therefore, he is free, he can overstep the bureaucrats and remain true to himself.

I think that the Estonian art of painting in the second half of the 20th century was indeed the art of remaining true to oneself.

It was my wish to be convinced of this once again, and to convince you, and above all - to thank you all for this once more.

 

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