Living Collection presents works from the Sara Hildén Foundation Collection ranging from classic works to new acquisitions representing contemporary art.

The upper floor of the museum houses classics of European modernism and early pre-war masters as well as paintings by Erik Enroth, whose works form the core of the collection. They represent the movements in modern art of the early twentieth century from post impressionism to cubism and surrealism. Among the artists represented are Helene Schjerfbeck, Pierre Bonnard, Juan Gris, Fernand Léger and Pablo Picasso together with masters of modern art of a younger generation such as Paul Delvaux, Joan Miró and Giorgio Morandi. Paul Delvaux’s Summer was Sara Hildén’s own favourite work. Other major works in the collection include the British sculptor Henry Moore’s Reclining Mother and Child and Alberto Giacometti’s female figure Woman on a Chariot. Also on show at the exhibition is a new acquisition from sculptor Otto Boll, Untitled.

”Non-figurative” is one common denominator of the collection’s post-war works. Informalism, which emphasized the artist’s freedom of expression, was the predominant movement in European art in the 1960s. Among its main exponents were Rafael Canogar, Jean Dubuffet, Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages and Zao Wou-Ki, whose works are on show in this exhibition.

Francis Bacon’s study for a portrait of his life partner George Dyer, which has been exhibited in numerous art museums around the world, is one of the internationally best-known works in the collection.

Downstairs new acquisitions are presented. Jacob Dahlgren interprets everyday objects in new context. Exhibited are also Daniel Jacoby’s installation and paintings by Jussi Niva and Riku Mäkinen. Pe Lang combines self-made mechanical systems with strict simple constructions.

Conceptual art has since 1960’s developed alongside other experimental art forms. It generated a new attitude to the process of making art. The works by Pierre Buraglio draw our attention to the idea behind the artwork. Jyrki Siukonen works with the relationship of image and language. The gentle compositions by Adam Winner occupy a borderland between sculpture and painting.