The life’s work of two visual artists benefit science and art of the future
Oulu-born Visual Artists Reijo Hukkanen and Sinikka Tuominen, who died in 2024, wanted to gift property and other assets to research and art through the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Major bequest from Reijo Hukkanen and Sinikka Tuominen
The Finnish Cultural Foundation is one of Finland’s biggest supporters of science, research, art and culture, which has been and is still made possible by the donations and bequests received over the decades.
“A total of 170,000 Finns took part in the initial fundraising campaign for the Finnish Cultural Foundation back in 1938. This tradition of donating lives on today, and we take great care to ensure that the donations we receive are used in accordance with the wishes of the donor,” explains CEO of the Finnish Cultural Foundation Susanna Pettersson.
Reijo Hukkanen (1946–2024) and Sinikka Tuominen (1947–2024) were award-winning artists and highly influential figures in contemporary Finnish art.
Reijo Hukkanen, a sculptor and painter, is known for works such as the Laulupuut (‘Song trees’) sculpture situated outside Helsinki’s Musiikkitalo concert and event venue. He received the State Prize for the Visual Arts in 1987 and the Pro Finlandia medal in 2012, and was chosen as Artist of the Year in 1991. His sculptures are almost in a class of their own in terms of their inventive genius, incorporating familiar materials manipulated into acrobatic forms and pieces of scrap elevated into works of art on the wings of unbridled humour.
Sinikka Tuominen, a widely esteemed artist, received the Finland Prize in 1995, and was an Ars Fennica nominee in 1996 and a Carnegie Art Award nominee in 2000. In 2019 she was awarded a major Nordic recognition in the form of the Prince Eugen Medal, in honour of her fearless and original career as a painter.
The bequest of the Oulu-born artist couple includes not only an extensive art collection, but also an apartment, a property on the island of Hailuoto, and significant archival material. The artists spent their summers on Hailuoto, where each had their own studio.
“This donation by Reijo Hukkanen and Sinikka Tuominen is a token of their appreciation of science and art, and of their desire to support future generations in their professional work in the sciences and arts. A donation of over half a million euros is of course financially significant, but its cultural and historical value cannot be measured in euros,” says Pettersson.
The Finnish Cultural Foundation has gifted some works from Hukkanen and Tuominen’s collection to Oulu Art Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, with a number of works added to the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s own collection. For other pieces, the aim is to find buyers at auction.
“This extensive donation of works of art beautifully complements our contemporary art collection. The pieces will form a part of the collection of the Finnish National Gallery and our shared cultural heritage preserved for future generations,” says Museum Director Kiira Miesmaa of Kiasma.
An extensive set of archive material, which is also significant from an art history perspective, containing press clippings, images, and other art history materials, has been inventoried and gifted to the Finnish National Gallery. The materials offer an excellent basis for research into the artists’ work.
The Finnish Cultural Foundation receives around €10 million a year in donations and bequests. With the proceeds from the donations, the Finnish Cultural Foundation can support science, research, art and culture by for example awarding grants worth over €50 million each year. More information about donations and bequests to the Finnish Cultural Foundation, see:
