Guests of Honour – Celebrating 40 Years of the Rovaniemi Art Museum

Exactly forty years ago, the people of Rovaniemi gained their own art museum and a permanent home for the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection. In 1986, the collection comprised around 500 works; today it includes nearly 4,000 and stands as one of the most significant collections of Finnish contemporary art.

The Rovaniemi Art Museum’s 40th anniversary exhibition, Guests of Honour, offers a broad overview of the shared decades of the Wihuri Foundation Collection and the museum. Visitors can, among other highlights, take a journey back to the museum’s early years, when a remarkable shipment of artworks – destined to transform a former postal bus depot – was welcomed to its new home. From the approximately five hundred works that arrived in 1986, the exhibition now brings together well-known classics familiar from numerous collection displays, alongside more rarely seen gems.

The exhibition features both audience and staff favourites from across the years, as well as the most recent acquisitions. Young people from Rovaniemi involved in the ArtHop Project have also contributed to the selection of works. The result is diverse, surprising, joyful and moving. The oldest work in Guests of Honour dates from 1944 and the most recent from 2025. The exhibition includes a total of 190 works by 95 artists. It has been curated by Chief Curator Aira Huovinen and Collection Assistant Tino Rautiainen.

Guests of Honour brings together works, memories, and perspectives from the museum’s early years to the present day. It is a tribute to the artists and the collection, but also to the audience, who over the years have made these works their own.

A very warm welcome to celebrate with us – as our guests of honour!

The exhibition is presented in two parts, on the museum’s upper and lower floors. An opening celebration open to all will be held on May 7.

Museum upper floor | from March 27, 2026

Albrecht Maija, Arminen Tuija, Cavén Kari, Eskelinen Petri, Heikkilä Markku, Heiskanen Outi, Helle Emma, Hirvimäki Veikko, Holma Marjatta, Hurtig Eliina, Juuti Lasse, Juvonen Jari, Kannisto Sanna, Kansala Rosa, Karintaus Liisa, Kauhanen Pekka, Kiuru Kaija, Koch Ari, Koivisto Kaisu, Kylänpää Hannele, Lehtinen Tuula, Lipiäinen Leila, Lucander Robert, Luostarinen Leena, Löppönen Ville, Marila Heikki, Mäkelä Marika, Nisonen Pertti, Nukari Pirkko, Oikarinen Mari, Ojansivu Juha, Peltokangas Matti, Pohjola Gunnar, Rantanen Silja, Rautiainen Taneli, Retulainen Anna, Roos Nina, Ryhänen Heli, Schroderus Noora, Sirén Päivi, Stereo Maria, Suomi Risto, Tapper Kain, Toija Tommi and Vionoja Veikko 

Museum lower floor | from May 8, 2026

Blomstedt Juhana, Cavén Kari, Cizmic Mirza, Geller Jiri, Granfelt Erik, Harri Juhani, Heikkilä Jaakko, Heinonen Viljami, Huhtamo Kari, Hukkanen Reijo, Jula Jari, Junno Tapio, Jylhä Pekka, Jämsä Aarne, Kaskipuro Pentti, Koistinen Unto, Koponen Erkki, Kytösalmi-Buhl Mervi, Lassila Nina, Lavonen Ahti, Lehtonen Paula, Lucander Anitra, Merenmies Elina, Mäkelä Jukka, Nevalainen Pekka, Osipow Paul, Pietilä Tuulikki, Rautiainen Taneli, Pullinen Laila, Raekallio Raisa & del Val Misha, Raittila Tapani, Remes Helmi, Romo Heidi, Ruotsalainen Anitta, Sakkinen Riiko, Salosmaa Aarno, Simonsson Kim, Suntio Heimo, Särkijärvi Sirpa, Tapper Kain, Toija Tommi, Toivonen Toni R., Tompuri Anne, Tornberg Jaakko, Tuominen Juhani, Utriainen Raimo, Valtakari Jussi, Valtonen Osmo, Virolainen Heikki, Wardi Rafael, Weckman Jan Kenneth, Wirkkala Maaria and Wuorila-Stenberg Henry 

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Raekallio Raisa, del val Misha: The Ball, 2021. Photo: Tatu Kantomaa.