Museum director's greetings

Today we celebrate the 40-year journey of the Rovaniemi Art Museum – four decades during which art has found a space, a voice and an audience here. Art gives rise to new ideas, conversations and experiences. Here in Lapland, where nature and the seasons redraw the horizon each day, art also reminds us to look more closely and to see differently. At the same time, we celebrate the permanent home of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection in Rovaniemi, and the long-term work on which the museum’s story has been built.

A museum, however, is not only its walls, exhibitions and collections – it is its people. It is a great pleasure to note that over the years the Rovaniemi Art Museum has welcomed more than one million visitors. It is an impressive number, but even more impressive is the trust and curiosity with which audiences have returned to art again and again.

The anniversary exhibition Guests of Honour brings together works, memories and perspectives from the museum’s early days to the present – including well-known classics and rarely seen gems. It is a tribute to the artists and the collection, but also to the audience, who have taken these works to heart.

I would like to thank the museum staff and all those who have made this anniversary year and this exhibition possible. My thanks also go to the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation for their trust and partnership, and to all our collaborators and supporters, whose contribution is reflected in the museum’s work now and in the future.

I warmly welcome you to the exhibition and to this shared celebration. May the Rovaniemi Art Museum continue to be a place for art, encounters and shared pride.