The art collection of the Estonian Maritime Museum is being presented to the public for the first time in such a comprehensive manner. The collection was established more than 90 years ago when preparations to open the museum were underway. Today, the collection, which comprises more than 900 works, stands out as one of the most distinctive in the Estonian art scene – most of the authors were not professional artists, but sailors, fishermen, captains or naval officers. In other words, the collection was shaped less by considerations of artistic quality than by the stories these images tell about the sea and maritime culture.
The emergence of marine painting as an independent genre dates back to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries when the Age of Discovery transformed not only nautical charts but also humanity’s understanding of itself and its place in the world. Looking back at the heyday of marine painting in Western Europe, the genre has always been closely tied to national success stories, as seen in the 17th-century Netherlands or 18th-century Great Britain. The same trend can be seen in the history of art here: a real fascination with marine art arrived with the establishment of the Republic of Estonia. However, it cannot be said that the sea or ships were not painted in Estonia before that. On the contrary – they were painted and in great numbers! The creators of these paintings were not to be found in art school studios, but in fishing villages, piers and on the decks of ships.
The exhibition offers an overview of the art collection of the Estonian Maritime Museum and of several subgenres of marine art, but above all, it is a tribute to the artists who answered the call of the sea with their brushstrokes.
Curators Kadri Asmer and Laura Jamsja