International art from the early 20th century to the present day

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The exhibition Red Birds on Green Tree - Works from the international collection of the Sara Hildén Foundation celebrates the Sara Hildén Art museum's 45th anniversary by presenting key artists and works from the Sara Hildén Foundation's international collection from the early 20th century to the present day.
View from the ground floor of the museum, dimly lit. Huge red and white glass beads hang from the ceiling, behind which is a landscape window looking out onto a snow-covered sculpture park. In the centre of the picture is a large pool of ink with red roses in the middle. Behind it are two white partitions, one with a black non-representational relief hanging on it, the other with a black painting almost as high as the partition with representational elements. Both the relief and the painting are reflected i
Jean-Michel Othoniel, White and Red Necklace, 2010. Jason Martin, Waltz of the Toreadors, 2012. Robert Longo, Oil and Roses, 2017. Ellen Gallagher, Mobb Deep, 1998. Subodh Gupta, Subject Object, 2010. Sara Hildén Foundation.

The exhibition is structured around time periods. Upstairs, the museum presents trends in 20th century art, while downstairs a selection of works by artists from the collection in the 21st century.

The earliest work in the exhibition is a bronze sculpture by Aristide Maillol from 1903 and the latest is a sculpture by Thomas Houseago from 2023. Some of the newest works in the collection are being shown for the first time, such as Kiki Smith’s large-scale drawing Red Birds on Green Tree (2006), from which the exhibition takes its title.

”Sara Hildén bought not only early 20th century modernism but also contemporary art of her time. The exhibition includes both acquisitions made by Sara Hildén and recent acquisitions by the Sara Hildén Foundation”, says Maria Laine, Head of Collection.

The Sara Hildén Foundation’s art collection began in 1962, when Sara Hildén donated the artworks she owned to the foundation bearing her name. Since the foundation’s establishment, international visual art has been one of the main focuses of the collection. Today, the Sara Hildén Foundation’s collection of foreign art includes more than 500 works of art by nearly 230 artists. The permanent home of the art collection is the Sara Hildén Art Museum.

”The Sara Hildén Foundation’s works are on display at the museum in the form of temporary exhibitions and as part of contemporary art reviews. In this exhibition, a work by Jean-Michel Othoniel precedes an upcoming summer exhibition that will showcase Othoniel’s art more widely”, says Anna Hjorth-Röntynen, museum director.

Othoniel’s large-scale work White and Red Necklace, (2010) embodies the most characteristic element of his art: glass beads, which he uses to create sculptures that resemble jewellery. For the nature theme of the forthcoming exhibition, Othoniel was inspired by the sculpture park surrounding the museum with its lakeside views.

Exhibition Red Birds on Green Tree – Works from the international collection of the Sara Hildén Foundation 17.2.2024 – 12.5.2024. Artists: Josef Albers, Arman, Francis Bacon, Stephan Balkenhol, Ross Bleckner, Pierre Bonnard, Victor Brauner, Claudio Bravo, Pierre Buraglio, Rafael Canogar, Anthony Caro, Giorgio de Chirico, Christo, Chuck Close, Enzo Cucchi, Richard Deacon, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Paul Delvaux, Nicolas de Staël, Marcel Dzama, Andreas Eriksson, Francisco Farreras, Mark Francis, Lucio Fontana, Ellen Gallagher, Alberto Giacometti, Juan Gris, Subodh Gupta, Thomas Houseago, Jean Olivier Hucleux, Allen Jones, Alex Katz, Edward Kienholz, Paul Klee, Marie Laurencin, Fernand Léger, Julio Le Parc, Richard Long, Robert Longo, Markus Lüpertz, Alberto Magnelli, Aristide Maillol, Jason Martin, Mario Merz, Tomio Miki, Luciano Minguzzi, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Giorgio Morandi, Jean-Michel Othoniel, A. R. Penck, Eggert Pétursson, Pablo Picasso, Bernard Piffaretti, Serge Poliakoff, Patrick Procktor, Robert Rauschenberg, Martial Raysse, Germaine Richier, Georges Rouault, Jan Schoonhoven, Kurt Schwitters, Sean Scully, Anj Smith, Kiki Smith, Wilhelm Sasnal, Frank Stella, Pierre Soulages, Yves Tanguy, Antoni Tàpies, Victor Vasarely, Claude Viallat, Alberto Viani, Maria Elena Vieira da Silva, Klaus Weber, Zao Wou-Ki, Erwin Wurm. 

Photos: Jussi Koivunen / Sara Hildén Art Museum
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