Petri Ala-Maunus and Mauno Markkula: Blazing Sky

HAM’s new collection space is set to present its art collection, which belongs to all residents of Helsinki, in a more extensive and innovative way. The space is based on the Bäcksbacka collections, whose key artists include Mauno Markkula. In this new exhibition, Markkula’s works from the 1940s and 1950s enter into an interesting dialogue with Petri Ala-Maunus’s paintings from the 2010s and 2020s. The exhibition takes visitors to surreal landscapes amid colour storms.

The exhibition brings together 46 of Mauno Markkula’s paintings, some of which are now seen for the first time by the general public. Inspired by Mauno Markkula, Petri Ala-Maunus painted a new series of almost 30 works, the titles and scales of which mirror Markkula’s originals.

The exhibition features three of Petri Ala-Maunus’s large-scale landscapes: from HAM’s collections the piece Übernatur (2013), the 12-metre-wide Pastoral Purgatory (2024), and Last Will (2025), which also features on the cover of Musician and Author Marko Annala’s novel Ylva, published last year.

The connection between the two artists can also be seen through their self-portraits. Mauno Markkula’s serious, dark-toned self-study from 1944 hangs alongside a long sequence of drawings in which Petri Ala-Maunus observes himself day after day. Ala-Maunus began his series of self-portraits in 2017. Over nine years, he has painted or drawn one every day.

Petri Ala-Maunus

Petri Ala-Maunus (b. 1970) is known for his large-scale, detailed landscape paintings. He began painting landscapes at a time when the subject was considered rather old-fashioned, yet he recognised in it a means to explore intense human emotions: wonder, melancholy, and the pull of the sublime. His works do not depict specific places, but rather fictional landscapes, inspired by art history, encounters with nature, photographs, and record cover art.

Mauno Markkula

Mauno Markkula (1905–1959) was one of the most distinctive and original artists of his era. His vibrant shades of red, yellow, and green earned the artist the nickname “colour mystic”. For Markkula, a landscape was an experience rather than a view. An avid walker and observer of nature, he rarely painted outdoors. His works depict inner visions – experiences that distilled slowly in his mind.

The exhibition is curated by HAM’s Head of Exhibitions Kati Kivinen and HAM’s Curator Aki Pohjankyrö.

Produced with support from the Finnish Heritage Agency.