Gothic Modern

Medieval and Renaissance art provided 19th and 20th-century artists with emotional material and ways to deal with fundamental human feelings, as well as birth, death, suffering and sexuality. The exhibition highlights a phenomenon that has not been addressed in art history before, examining how it is manifested in the works of renowned artists.

The artists featured in the exhibition include Arnold Böcklin, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Vincent van Gogh, Theodor Kittelsen, Käthe Kollwitz, Edvard Munch, Hugo Simberg, Helene Schjerfbeck, Marianne Stokes, and Gustave Van de Woestyne.  In addition to paintings and prints, the exhibition displays objects, sculptures and furniture.

The partners of the international exhibition are the National Museum in Oslo and the Albertina Museum in Vienna, which are the two venues where the exhibition will be shown after its run at the Ateneum. The exhibition is curated by the director of the Ateneum, Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff; Vibeke Waallann Hansen and Cynthia Osiecki from the National Museum; and the director of the Alte Nationalgalerie, Ralph Gleis. 

The exhibition is based on a long research project, which, for the first time, explored how artists of the modern era became interested in medieval art. The project has been led by Professor Juliet Simpson (Coventry University), who is a guest curator for the exhibition, working together with Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff.