Moved to Tears

Staging Emotions

Throughout the centuries, painting and theatre have inspired each other. Both art forms portray and arouse feelings, expressing them through means such as expressions and poses.

  • 13.9.2018–3.3.2019
Tickets: with a museum ticket
Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Pakarinen.

Some visual artists have had extremely close relationships with the theatre world, as many of them have also designed theatre sets and painted portraits of well-known actors. Popular plays and fateful performances of their day have inspired artists as themes, while dramatic paintings of landscapes, storms and shipwrecks have served as models for many theatrical sets.

The exhibition Moved to Tears: Staging Emotions presents compositional methods derived from the theatrical world, dating back to the seventeenth century. The exhibition’s works demonstrate the powerful cultural impact that theatre has had on various genres of art throughout Europe. The exhibition ushers the viewer into a magical world of visual art and theatre. The exhibition is curated by French art historian Laura Gutman.