Alexander Lauréus – To Rome

The exhibition offers a comprehensive and eye-opening look at Lauréus’s life and art. The works are on loan from more than twenty different lenders in Finland and Sweden, including several pieces from private collections and works never before exhibited in Finland.

  • 16.2.–20.8.2023
1st floor and Red Cellar
Tickets: with a museum ticket
18 €/ 12 €/ Museum Card. Entry is free for those under 18 years.
Bandits Entering a Shepherd’s Dwelling.
Alexander Lauréus (1783 – 1823): Bandits Entering a Shepherd’s Dwelling (detail), 1823. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Erik Cornelius, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

Alexander Lauréus (1783–1823), who was born in Turku, enjoys an undisputed position as a key Romantic-era artist. Individual works of his have often been displayed, but a broader exhibition of his entire oeuvre has not been seen in Finland for forty years.

The exhibition is based on new research and a fundamental re-evaluation of Lauréus’s work. The viewer follows the artist’s footsteps from Turku to Stockholm, and from there via Paris to Rome, where Lauréus died aged 40. The artist’s time in Rome receives the attention it deserves as the culmination of his artistic career. The curator of the exhibition, Lotta Nylund, MA, is completing her doctoral dissertation on Alexander Lauréus, and she has written an extensive article for the exhibition publication.