In Kalervo Palsa’s World

Kalervo Palsa (1947–1987) was something of a maverick on the Finnish art scene. He lived in Kittilä, in the remote north of Finland, and worked in a humble outbuilding he named “Gethsemane”. There, he painted and drew with feverish intensity, spending his entire life searching for his place in the art world.

Throughout his extensive body of work, Palsa explored universal themes such as loneliness, death, sexuality, class, double standards, intoxicants, and life in the remote north. The exhibition asks: how does Palsa’s legacy continue to resonate in contemporary art? Palsa’s works are shown alongside pieces by artists including Edith Hammar, Siiri Haarla, Jukka Korkeila, and Ville Vuorenmaa.

The exhibition presents a curated selection of works from the Finnish National Gallery’s collection. Palsa’s significance within the collection is considerable: of the approximately 9,000 works of contemporary art currently held by the Finnish National Gallery, more than a third are by Palsa. Nearly his entire body of work was donated to Kiasma in 1999 by the artist’s close friend, Maj-Lis Pitkänen.

The exhibition opens in 2027, marking the 80th anniversary of Palsa’s birth and 40 years since his death.