The Gallen-Kallela Museum in association with the Ernst Museum of Budapest will stage an exhibition on contacts in the arts between Finland and Hungary in the early 20th century. The contacts that originally formed at the Paris World's Fair of 1900 led to deeper interest and personal friendships through which impulses moved in both directions. There was a great need for nationally oriented expression in both countries, with starting points that included fruitful combinations of ancient mythology with the modern style. Significant contacts emerged, among others, for the architects Gesellius-Lindgren-Saarinen, the artist Pekka Halonen, the sculptor Yrjö Liipola – and for Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The exhibition ends chronologically with the Cranbrook Academy of Art in the United States, where Eliel Saarinen planned a large design school upon commission from the American philanthropist George Booth. Booth wanted to involve all leading artists of the period, such Géza Mároti and Gallen-Kallela, among others, in his future city of arts and sciences.

In 1906, Akseli Gallen-Kallela prepared the department of Finnish art for the Budapest International Winter Exhibition, and in 1908 he held, upon the request of the Hungarians, a major solo exhibition that was visited by over 100 000 people. The artist was fêted like a national hero and he participated in numerous events held in his honour during his two-month visit to Hungary. For the Hungarians, Gallen-Kallela personified the national artist and complex and deep national art. The artist's first published illustrations to the Kalevala epic also appeared in 1908 in Hungarian under the title Kullervo Énekei .

Finnmagyar was planned to be shown in the year 2004 when it celebrates the new Hungarian membership of the European Union. The exhibition presents applied arts, architecture, the visual arts and related documentary material. The working group preparing the Finnish section of the exhibition included the Gallen-Kallela Museum, the Ateneum Art Museum, Design Museum, the Porvoo Museum, and the Museum of Finnish Architecture. The Hungarian material has been assembled by the Ernst Museum from the collections of the Szépmüveszet Museum, the Museum of Applied Arts and private collections.

The Finnish artists of the exhibition are Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Eric O. W. Ehrström, A. W. Finch, Magnus Enckell, Pekka Halonen, Eero Järnefelt, Yrjö Liipola, Juho Rissanen, Gesellius-Lindgren-Saarinen, Hugo Simberg, Venny Soldan, Lars Sonck, Eva and Louis Sparre and Emil Wikström. The Hungarians include Aladár Körösföi-Kriesch, Sandor Nagy, Ede Thoroczkai-Wigand, István Zichy, Undi Mariska, and Géza Maróti.

In connection with the exhibition a catalogue will be published in collaboration with the Ernst Museum with articles by experts in the field from Finland and Hungary. The articles present new information on the rich and at times feverish episode of international art history. The catalogue will appear in Finnish and Hungarian.

The museum is open: Tue-Sat 10-16, Sun 10-17

Guided tours in Finnish Sundays at 13.00 , others by request.