Press preview, Wed 26 February at 11:00: Natalia Goncharova

The event will be opened by the Museum Director of the Ateneum, Marja Sakari. Natalia Goncharova’s exhibition will be presented by its curator Timo Huusko, the chief curator of the Ateneum. The event will be in Finnish. Complimentary coffee.

To book your place at the event, register by Monday 24 February at: pressconference@ateneum.fi

Natalia Goncharova
27 February – 17 May 2020

Natalia Goncharova (1881–1962) is known as a central figure in Russian avant-garde art, inspiring experimental artists in both Russia and Western Europe. The exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of the artist’s work from the first four decades of the 20th century. The exhibition continues the work done by the Ateneum in highlighting women artists, examples of which are the Alice Neel exhibition, held in the summer of 2016, and displays by female Finnish artists.

Goncharova’s extensive artistic work was inspired by folk art and religious icons. Her art was also contradictory: Goncharova could at one moment be taking part in a street performance in Moscow with a painted face, and at the next be working on creating religious art inspired by old icons. In addition to visual art, Goncharova designed costumes and sets for Sergei Diaghilev’s famous Ballets Russes. She also created designs for fashion houses in Moscow and Paris, was involved in avant-garde cinema, and provided illustrations for experimental poems.

Goncharova’s bold and innovative work was influential among her contemporaries, crossing the boundaries that typically existed between 20th-century art forms. The exhibition features more than one hundred works, including a large number of paintings, but also illustrations, costumes, sketches of set designs, and recordings of ballet performances. Almost all the works in the exhibition will be seen in Finland for the first time.

The exhibition is organised by the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki, Tate Modern in London and Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, in collaboration with State Tretyakov Gallery. The exhibition is curated by Timo Huusko, chief curator at the Ateneum Art Museum; Matthew Gale, head of displays at Tate Modern; and Natalia Sidlina, curator of international art at Tate Modern.

Read more about the exhibition

Events related to the exhibition

Vuokko Hovatta: Tietysti olemme siskokset
6 to 20 March 2020. A monologue Tietysti olemme siskokset (‘Of course we are sisters’) on the friendship between Natalia Goncharova and the poet Marina Tsvetaeva, performed by Vuokko Hovatta, in the Ateneum Hall. Tickets €31/26. In Finnish. Read more about the performance

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