The Royal Museums of Turin dedicate an exhibition to the forefather of modern Estonian painting, Konrad Mägi

The exhibition Konrad Mägi. The Light of the North, dedicated to the artist considered the progenitor of modern Estonian painting.

Curated by Eero Epner in collaboration with the direction of the Royal Museums, the exhibition is held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Konrad Mägi’s visit to Italy and is one of the largest solo exhibitions ever held in Europe dedicated to the artist.

The works on display, more than fifty in number, come from the National Art Museum of Estonia and the Tartu Art Museum, as well as from the private collections of Enn Kunila and Peeter Värni and those of the Estonian Student Society.

His is primarily a landscape painting, tense and in some cases dreamlike, built with dense and expressive subject matter; the nature of the North, rich in color and light, is told in his paintings. The artist loves nature and paints it as if he were making a portrait, while his few portraits depicting people are executed as if he were painting nature, which he perceives as a metaphysical and sacred space.

A unique artist in the European scene of the first two decades of the 20th century, he never adhered to any current or specific movement.

For Enrica Pagella, director of the Royal Museums, it is a discovery and a challenge: "I am sure that Konrad Mägi’s works will be for the public of the Royal Museums a discovery and a challenge. The discovery of a still little-known artist and, at the same time, of his world, made up of experiences and contacts that, starting from Estonia, unite St. Petersburg to Paris and Rome. A challenge, because Mägi’s poetics, while so direct, crosses signs of artistic cultures-Art Nouveau, Fauves, Impressionism, Expressionism-that must be interpreted in the light of a peculiar and personal inspiration, like suggestions coming from distant lands within a groove of almost ethnographic flavor. A painting that writes, with its means of form, color and light, a piece of European history."

A documentary film about the artist, specially made by Estonian director Marianne Kõrver, will be screened in the last room of the exhibition itinerary: it will illustrate Mägi’s contradictory personality, the passionate and self-destructive history of the artist’s metaphysical pursuits, and a veil of mystery surrounding both his life and his art.

The exhibition is organized by the National Art Museum of Estonia and supported by the Konrad Mägi Foundation.

After the Turin stop, the exhibition will be transferred in autumn 2021 to the EMMA Museum in Espoo, Finland.

For info: www.museireali.beniculturali.it

Image: Konrad Mägi, Lake Pühajärv (1918-1920; Oil on canvas; Estonia, National Art Museum)

The Royal Museums of Turin dedicate an exhibition to the forefather of modern Estonian painting, Konrad Mägi

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