Kenya Revisited - Exhibition from 11th March 2023 to 28th January 2024

How did a Finnish artist experience British East Africa on 1909? How does a modern-day Kenyan review this trip and Akseli Gallen-Kallela's African era art?

Kenya Revisited - Exhibition at the Gallen-Kallela Museum 11th March 2023 to 28th January 2024

Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s trip to Africa from 1909–1910 is a well-known and fascinating period in his life. Settling in the area around Nairobi, now the capital of Kenya, Gallen-Kallela recorded views of the life and landscapes of what was then British East Africa. The themes and collections related to the journey have now been examined for the first time, with Kenyan actors both in Finland and Kenya!

The themes of the exhibition were examined in joint workshops, covering colonialism, hunting, Kenyan history and the display materials: art and object collections. Kenya Revisited features a large selection of Gallen-Kallela’s paintings and ethnographic and zoological materials collected by him. The exhibition is complemented by background information and experiences of the objects gathered from the Kenyan community.

Gallen-Kallela saw East Africa as a pristine paradise where he could realise his dreams. In Afrikka-kirja (Africa Book), his memoirs of the journey, he remarks, …when I arrived, time stood still. Like an ever-evolving Fata Morgana, the visions around us change; everything is just days and nights that merge with the sun, the moon and the stars, in an air so gentle that one forgets one’s own existence.

The exhibition texts are available in Finnish, Swedish, English and Swahili. First floor of the museum is accessible to all audiences.

The exhibition has received support from Kone Foundation and the City of Espoo.

First floor of the Museum is accessible for all.

Museum entrance fees:
Children under 18 years free
Students, unemployed 5€
Pensioners 7€
Adults 12€
Museum Card, Kaikukortti accepted
Smartum, Edenred, ePassi accepted