Air de Paris

Curated from works in HAM’s own collections and those of other Finnish art museums and private collectors, the exhibition features a total of 70 paintings by 40 artists.

Air de Paris gives us airy views of France’s capital at a time when a new generation of Finnish artists travelled there in search of fresh artistic challenges. For Bäcksbacka Paris was synonymous with a modern lifestyle filled with parties and jazz, and it was also where he got to know many artists, as well as new trends in art.

Through Finnish painters working in Paris, Bäcksbacka came to know the group of French artists known as “Les peintres de la Réalité poétique”. Bäcksbacka held several exhibitions by the group’s members in his gallery in Helsinki, becoming in the process an advocate of French art in Finland. Alongside works by these French artists, Air de Paris also features paintings depicting various Finnish artists’ favourite subjects, from riverside views along the Seine to scenes in the gardens, cafés and circuses of Paris.

The exhibition is curated by Laura Gutman, a Parisian art historian resident in Finland.