Art Museum Ateneum, Art museum near Railway Square, Finland
Art Museum Ateneum is an art museum near Helsinki's Railway Square that holds more than 20,000 works spanning from the 1750s to the 1950s, including paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. The collection covers many different artistic styles and periods, giving visitors a broad view of how art developed across these two centuries.
The building was completed by architect Theodor Höijer in 1887 and opened to the public on October 13, 1888. It became an important place for making contemporary art accessible to citizens and helped build Helsinki's cultural life in the late 1800s.
The museum displays works by Finnish artists like Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Albert Edelfelt alongside international pieces, showing how Helsinki connected to the wider art world. Visitors can see how the city's artistic identity developed through both homegrown talent and foreign influences.
The museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 AM to 8 PM and weekends from 10 AM to 5 PM. Plan enough time to walk through the galleries, and take advantage of its location right next to the railway station for easy access.
The museum was the first in the world to acquire a painting by Vincent van Gogh when Street in Auvers-sur-Oise arrived in 1903. This early purchase showed the institution's faith in modern artists at a time when Van Gogh's work was not yet accepted everywhere.
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