The Rüki Gallery exhibition open from 8 March to 10 May 2026.
Participating artists: Marge Monko, Tõnis Saadoja, Mihkel Ilus, Johanna Ulfsak, Jass Kaselaan
In the anniversary year of the first ethnically Estonian professional artist, Johann Köler, a triple exhibition explores his life, work and lasting influence on artists today. While the Kondas Centre presents Köler’s original works and the Viljandi Museum displays 100 full-size reproductions, the Rüki Gallery features five Estonian artists who reinterpret Köler’s masterpieces from a contemporary perspective.
Johann Köler is an artist whose works have likely been reproduced more than any other in Estonia. His paintings can be found in albums, monographs, and on postcards. Using the watercolor The Spinner (Broken Thread) as an example, Marge Monko (1976) examines the reproduction of an artwork as a process whose success depends on both photographic and printing-related aspects. The work consists of reproductions of “The Spinner” printed at different times, as well as two interpretations of the piece created by the artist herself.
Monko has previously used Köler’s watercolor The Spinner in her practice — at the 2012 Köler Prize nominees’ exhibition, where she displayed a reproduction shredded halfway through a paper shredder under the title Broken Thread. She chose this work because it allowed her to create a conceptual link with the history of the Kreenholm Manufactory and the textile industry, which at the time was a central focus of her artistic practice. In the present exhibition, Monko further develops the work by additionally presenting a photographic reproduction shot on medium-format film and enlarged in an analog color laboratory, composed of test strips in different tones. Monko collaborated with graphic designer and colour proof specialist Marje Eelma to create this work.
Tõnis Saadoja’s (1980) two oil paintings both stem from the same question — how to paint a motif that would simultaneously align with Köler’s academic legacy while also being shifted by contemporary modes of seeing. The prototypes for the paintings are Köler’s landscape sketches and studies of foliage, which were exercises for his larger compositions. The expression of an unmistakable and logical painter of nature today feels like an old classical language — one that is studied and learned, yet no longer spoken in everyday artistic practice. Searching for a shared sensibility or common ground with Köler inevitably resembles taking flight, distancing oneself, and attempting to land safely on familiar terrain.
Over the years, Mihkel Ilus (1987) has worked with ideas that directly stem from the material aspects of the painting process. His attention has been drawn to stretcher frames, tension wedges, the linen weave of canvas, and easels as the painter’s primary tools. The artist has handcrafted 30 easels, based on prototypes used in the painting department of the Academy of Arts, originally made after Eduard Ole’s easel, behind which Mihkel Ilus himself has both studied and taught. Thus, the artist’s easels are themselves a repeated tribute to cultural transmission. For the easels exhibited at Rüki Gallery, the artist crafted painting clips from noble wood dating from a period preceding Köler’s birth. The easels provide support for Tõnis Saadoja’s paintings.
Köler’s painting Lorelei Cursed by Monks is considered one of his most ambitious works, although critics gave it a devastating assessment at his solo exhibition in Vienna. The dynamic composition depicts the water witch Lorelei, whose power and strength the monks have come to destroy. Behind the painting saturated with brutal effects lie additional personal layers: the composition also portrays the Crusaders’ invasion of Livonia and the clergy’s desire to eradicate pagan beliefs. The symbolic significance of Lorelei and Köler’s personal resentment toward the clergy inspired Johanna Ulfsak (1987) to create two textile works in double-weave technique for the exhibition. The first warp, in deep green tones of the Rhine River, intersects with the second warp, dramatic night darkness. The threads intertwine and separate according to the artist’s intuition, with the aim of conveying the struggle between light and shadow, and good and evil, as depicted in Köler’s masterpiece.
Jass Kaselaan’s (1981) sculptural group Portraits from the Year 2026 is based on the idea of how to portray a subject who does not actually exist. The sculpture series engages with the portrait tradition established by Johann Köler, yet shifts its foundation: while the classical portrait affirmed a person’s identity, here identity is open and potential. The sculptures depict fictional individuals — the human figure is recognizable, yet lacks biography and fact-based background. The portrait does not represent anyone specific, but instead creates presence in itself. Thus, the portrait becomes not a means of proof, but a mode of representation capable of giving form to someone who exists only within artistic space.
From the works of Johann Köler (1826–1899), the exhibition at the Rüki Gallery includes his painting Italian Landscape (1859–1861). The artwork, which belongs to the collection of the Viljandi Museum, symbolically connects the artist’s local origins with his international experience. In addition, the study, painted outdoors, shows the artist’s personal style more clearly than his academic portraits.
The triple exhibition will be accompanied by a major additional program, with more information available online at www.koler200.ee.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the first ethnically Estonian professional artist, Johann Köler. Hailing from a poor farmstead in Viljandi County, the young man, against all odds, found his way to St Petersburg, where he worked his way up to become one of the Russian Empire’s leading artists. However, Köler never forgot his homeland: he made use of his connections to alleviate the circumstances of Estonians living under the yoke of land owners. Köler became a leading advocate of the Estonian National Awakening, participating in many of its key initiatives, including the Alexander School, the Society of Estonian Literati, National Song Festivals and the Patriots of Estonia in St Petersburg.
Though renowned and extensively studied as an artist, surprisingly little remains known about Köler’s life. How did a boy brought up in the midst of forests arrive at the idea of becoming a painter at a time when such a notion barely existed? Having left home at just nine years of age, how many years did he attend a German school without speaking a word of the language, and how many languages could he speak by the end of his life? Why was it Köler who was chosen by the Russian tsar to serve as an art teacher to his daughters? Did he have a wife and children? How much did Köler charge emperors, generals and ministers for their portraits, and what did they talk about during their painting sessions? Why did he choose a vicious overseer from Hiiumaa as his model for the Jesus in St Charles Church in Tallinn? How did his purchase of a manor in Crimea bankrupt him and create a rift between himself and other nationalists? And why are so many of his works still missing to this day?
This milestone anniversary year will let you discover Köler’s life, work and impact on the artists of today in a joint exhibition entitled Köler 200: The Original, the Copy and the Interpretation by art institutions from Viljandi.
Viljandi Museum will be exploring the dramatic turns in Köler’s life and exhibiting a great variety of reproductions of his works. Open 8 March-1 November 2026.
The Kondas Centre will be displaying the artist’s original artworks, in various techniques and stages of completion, and seldom seen before. Open 8 March-14 June 2026.
- At the Rüki Gallery, modern interpretations of Köler will be presented by artists Tõnis Saadoja, Marge Monko, Jass Kaselaan, Johanna Ulfsak and Mihkel Ilus. Open 8 March-10 May 2026.
Exhibition curators: Kristjan Mändmaa (Viljandi Museum exhibition) & Mari Vallikivi (Kondas Centre exhibition)
Many thanks to our partners and supporters: Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Art Museum, Viinistu Art Museum, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, City of Viljandi, Põhja-Sakala municipality, the Farm Museum of Carl Robert Jakobson, Estonian History Museum et al.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a major additional program, with more information available online at www.koler200.ee.