Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection, which was donated to the City of Rovaniemi, is one of Finland’s most significant contemporary art collections.
In 1957 Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation decided that, as a way of supporting the work of Finnish artists, it would start building up an art collection. The Visual Arts Committee, appointed by the foundation, has tried, through the acquisitions, to achieve a high-quality collection representative of contemporary art in Finland.
In the 1980’s the foundation began looking in to the possibility of donating the collection elsewhere. The City of Rovaniemi was one of the candidates among many already-existing art museums in different cities around Finland. At that time there was no proper art museum in Northern Finland. Therefore, eventually the decision of donating the collection, holding 500 pieces at that time, to the City of Rovaniemi was made on August 15th 1983 and the official announcement was made on the 100th anniversary of Antti Wihuri’s birthday.
Today, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection comprises nearly 4,000 works and continues to grow each year. The collection provides a comprehensive view of the development of Finnish contemporary art from the 1940s to the present day, reflecting evolving materials and an ever-expanding range of techniques.
The City of Rovaniemi’s collection is located mainly in the city’s units, public spaces and offices. The city’s collection and other smaller collections managed by Rovaniemi Art Museum include approximately 2,000 works. The focus of the collections is on the works of artists born in Lapland or currently living there.
