HELSINKI.- In 2025, the Sinebrychoff Art Museum invites you to come to hear tales of ancient heroes and to immerse yourself in mythical Spain. Classical Heroes will be the first to step onto the stage. On their journeys we get to experience big emotions and incredible plot twists. Opening in September, Spain Beyond the Myths, featuring paintings by Spanish artists from the 19th and 20th centuries, will show spellbinding Spain and its mythical imagery.

Classical Heroes
13.2–10.8.2025
Sinebrychoff Art Museum

Explore more about Classical Heroes in art at this link.

Stories of ancient heroes involve strength, wit, beauty, sacrifice, misfortune and, above all, incredible plot twists. Those ingredients are very much alive in Western culture and lure us into the world of hero tales. The exhibition examines the mantle of heroism and what lies beneath it. What makes a hero a hero?

Heroism is about more than just smelling the roses and leaping from one victory to another. In Classical tales fate drives the hero into his allotted role and the Olympian gods guide him. The stuff the hero is made of is tested on dangerous journeys, in contests of prowess, and in tortuous trials. This entails sacrifices, disappointments, and tragic events. These narratives by no means always end in triumph – even the great heroes fail. The most important thing is the story, not whether the hero lives happily ever after.

For more than 2000 years now, writers, artists and composers have drawn inspiration from ancient hero figures and myths. Today, the influence of Classical heroic tales is detectable, for example, in comic books, games and films. These compelling stories and characters continue to entertain us, and the human sides of their heroes give us something to relate to.

The exhibition puts the spotlight on the principal heroes of Greek mythology – Heracles and Perseus – as well as Achilles, Odysseus, Hector and Paris, who fought in the Trojan War. On display here are Greco-Roman ceramics, sculptures, engravings, paintings, and contemporary art in various media. The exhibition is curated by Claudia de Brün.

Spain Beyond the Myths
11.9.2025–11.1.2026
Sinebrychoff Art Museum

Charismatic Spain has been attracting European tourists since the 18th century. Our images of the country are often linked to the mysterious moods and captivating rhythms of flamenco. The exhibition shows depictions of mythical Spain, along with paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries that project forwards into a new age.

The imagery of Spanishness sprang from the interaction between travellers who fell in love with the country and the Spanish artists whose works matched their imaginings. The art of the 19th century contains motifs that accentuate Spain’s exoticism and unique characteristics. Today, tourists from all over the world are still looking for an authentic Spain rooted in these images.

The themes of these artworks draw particularly on the culture of the Andalusian region with its flamenco and bullfighting. These images are also bound up with fanciful, unreal attributes and ideals. The paintings highlight the traditions of the country, its people, and the styles of its different regions. Behind the evocative situations in the paintings by José Maria Gallegos y Arnosa (1857–1917) and Francisco Pradilla (1848–1921) there is also a focus on handicrafts. The artists were further inspired by orientalism, i.e. by exotic, Eastern motifs also found in their own local regions. Travels extending to culturally diverse Andalusia, or even to Africa, are evident in the works of Mariano Fortuny (1838–1874) and Joaquín Agrasot (1836–1919). Francisco de Goya’s (1746–1828) prints, meanwhile, rather than glorifying Spanish culture, bring in a note of social critique.

Spanish artists also spent time in European art centres, such as Paris and Rome. The influence of mythical Spanishness went with them, but in the innovative atmosphere of these thriving hubs, many artists switched to more international modes of expression. For example, in Joaquín Sorolla’s (1863–1923) paintings light often plays the main role. There was also room for the landscape and the modernising world among the themes of the artists of the new age.

The exhibition takes us from paintings that draw on the traditions of the 19th century and the ideals and myths of Spanishness towards the new era and international movements. The curators are Helena Alonso and J. Òscar Carrascosa. This is the first time that Spanish painting from the 19th and 20th centuries has been shown on this scale in Finland.


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