Art Collections

The Åbo Akademi University Foundation’s activities are built on the donations we have had the privilege to receive since our founding in 1917. This also applies to our art collection, which has largely been expanded through inheritances, bequests, and donations. Over the years, the collection has grown from portraits, landscapes, and still lifes to include abstract and modern art. Today, it features oil paintings, watercolors, prints, drawings, and sculptures.

The collection, which now comprises over 1,00 works, has been developed primarily through donations. It began with the first academic portraits commissioned in the early 1920s and includes pieces by artists such as Eero Järnefelt, Hugo Backmansson, Verner Thomé, Teodor Schalin, and Antti Favén. In the 1930s, the foundation received one of its first major art donations from Johan Wilhelm Brummer, featuring works by prominent Finnish artists like Berndt Lindholm, Hjalmar Munsterhjelm, Eugen Taube, and Albert Edelfelt, along with works by notable international artists. This donation also included pieces by Severin Falkman, Brummer’s uncle.

Donors Ebba Aschan, Karin Allardt-Ekelund and Inga Schröder significantly enriched the collections between 1960 and 1985. Ebba Aschan’s donation included paintings and drawings by Marcus Collin, among other works. Karin Allardt-Ekelund, married to artist Ragnar Ekelund, donated several of her husband’s paintings, featuring scenes from the Porvoo archipelago and landscapes from France and Italy. Bo Hjelt‘s 20056 donation further complemented the collection with works by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Albert Edelfelt, Magnus Enckell and Verner Thomé.

In 2021, the Åbo Akademi University Foundation received a significant donation from Chancellor Roger Broo’s extensive collection of contemporary art. The donation, comprising approximately 160 works, was made by Broo’s widow, Harriet Silius, and complements the foundation’s existing collection of older artworks. Notable artists represented in Broo’s collection include Outi Heiskanen, Minna Maija Lappalainen, Mikko Paakkola, Veronika Ringbom, and Mirimari Väyrynen.

Our art is primarily displayed in the facilities of the Åbo Akademi University and Novia University of Applied Sciences in Turku and Vaasa, as well as the Variovuori Observatory, where the foundation’s office is located.

Contact

Curator Ulrika Grägg
Phone: +358 40 866 9777
Email: ulrika.gragg@stiftelsenabo.fi