Art Museum Ateneum

Ateneum offers a beautiful collection of Finnish art in a stunning historic building. The exhibits are well-curated and inspiring. It was not crowded at all. There is a kid’s corner where they can draw portraits and self portraits. Fun experience! Definitely recommend it!

Visited the museum during the weekend and around lunch time. It was empty with no wait time and minimal amounts of people inside. Plenty of time to look and appreciate all of the artwork without being hassles by crowds. Would advise to buy tickets online as there is a discount vs in person.

I visited once and was impressed how well was all ordered, by styles, and how different and great art pieces this place offers. Also a very well ordered store with thematic art merchandise, books and souvenirs. The museum itself is a work of art!

This museum is an easy walking distance from the central station. It is regarded as one of the most important museums not just in Helsinki but in Finland. The artwork and exhibitions are well worth a look and on the top floor there is a small cafe which offers nice views over the surrounding area. We were lucky enough to catch some strange cloud formations.

Amazing art museum right in the heart of Helsinki. Exhibitions are designed in a way that even people like me who understand NOTHING about art can enjoy. For each section they provide explanation, context and a brief history of the art piece. Absolutely fantastic.

You can easily be lost in the beauty of those paintings. Such a remarkable collection of art, right in the city center.

Helsinki’s Temple of Art Founded in 1887 and opened to the public in 1888, the Ateneum is Finland’s oldest and most renowned art museum, housing nearly 30,000 works from the 18th century to Modernism. Named after Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, the museum’s Neo-Renaissance building—designed by Theodor Höijer—features a facade adorned with busts of classical artists like Raphael and symbolic caryatids representing art forms. The collection stars Finnish icons like Albert Edelfelt, Akseli Gallen-Kallela (famed for his Kalevala-inspired myths), and Helene Schjerfbeck, whose haunting self-portraits redefine modernism. A global gem in its vaults is Vincent van Gogh’s Street in Auvers-sur-Oise (1890), making Ateneum one of the first museums worldwide to acquire his work—purchased simply because it was "on sale". Fun facts: The building once doubled as an art school until 1991, nurturing Finland’s creative giants . Its 2023 renovation sparked debates by reorganizing exhibits thematically (e.g., climate change in The Age of Nature) rather than chronologically. Today, it’s part of the Finnish National Gallery, drawing over 400,000 visitors annually Cannot recommend this highly enough, if you do end up going, take your time. 😊

My favorite museum in Helsinki ❤️ Great permanent exhibition and temporary ones are usually super nice. Must visit! Also check out the café and museum shop

A fantastic art museum downtown Helsinki. Besides traditional Finnish art they provide interesting changing exhibitions. Friendly knowledgeable staff, affordable tickets and lovely atmosphere! Note that by purchasing a generic museum card you can enter for free to any museum in Finland! Depending on the frequency of museum visits, this may pay back on shorter trips as well.

Unquestionably, five stars for the Ateneum. Helsinki has a couple of art museums and I'm sad that I did not get a chance to visit all of them so I can't really tell you that this is THE one to visit. But I've been to dozens of art museums around the world from London and Los Angeles to Milwaukee and Tokyo. This one rocked. A tremendous amount of great art here. Sure, the main focus is on Finnish artists and there are a lot of them who are tremendously talented and I'm surprised I'd not heard of them before. There was a Rodin sculpture on display and strangely placed in a corner, Van Gogh's "Street in Auvers-Sur-Oise" (1890). Thoroughly enjoyed my two hours here. [Review 10087 overall, 1673 of 2018.]

Found this place on Trip Advisor as a must see museum and we got cheap tickets I think $7 USD per person. Took pictures of the things I liked the best, it hand many floors and my art taste isn't the greatest. Fun to see and experience their artwork though in Helsinki.

Note if you are in Helsinki most museums are closed on Mondays during May when I visited. We had bought a Helsinki 24 hour tourist pass (to get into museums and other tourist attractions). We were able to get into this museum on Tuesday within our 24-hour window. This museum is quite large and there is plenty of things to see while here. You can easily spend as much or as little time here depending on your time schedule. It is centrally located so you have dining and other tourist attractions near by.

Classical Finnish art museum! This place is such a fantastic gallery, a cultural gem in downtown Helsinki! The place is located directly across from the Central Train Station, with giant busts over the door in a huge building. The museum has 2.5 floors of a permanent selection, which includes many of Finland's greatest artists, as well as art from across the world. It was great looking at the local Finn artists and how they portray their countryside and people, it gave a glimpse into the Finnish mindset- they've been ranked the happiest people in the world recently. A lot of the art showed scenes that looked downright cold- lots of snow, ice, etc. Finland isn't an especially sunny place. The art was diverse, a good mix of landscapes and portraits. They had a temporary exhibit of an artist, Adel Abidin called History Wipes. It showed a disturbing historical montage with info on how you can just wipe away the crimes against humanity. They also showed glass helmets and other interesting and thought provoking works. The museum was vary large with really cool old architecture, combined with modern updates- elevators, adequate bathrooms, wheelchair accessibility, and automatic doors. There was a really cool and moderately priced gift shop in the atrium. It had lots of weird and cool stationary, prints, and books. There was also a good looking restaurant, that I didn't get to. The museum has a city pass that's available, where if you're going to go to a lot of museums, it could be a good deal. They give discounts to students- the truly educated never graduate.

Fascinating Rodin exhibit, really well-curated with great explanations and a helpful booklet translated into English. Excellent espresso and snacks in the cafe. It's a small museum, so good for a couple of hours on a quiet rainy day. Get the Museum Card (59 euro) good for over 200 museums in Finland if you will be spending a decent amount of time in the country--it will pay off quickly as museums tend to be expensive in Helsinki.

A nice to museum to visit. I like that it's not too big to go through it and it was organized well and easy to follow along. We enjoyed getting to know Finnish art and history.

The largest art gallery we found in Helsinki; you could spend hours here. In character it is very typical of any European art gallery, set in a grand building divided into a series of whitewashed rooms, each containing art on a particular theme. This gallery is a mixture of temporary and permanent exhibitions. The major temporary exhibition we went was on pre-20th century Japanese art. The temporary exhibition space is huge, so you get practically a whole floor full of whichever temporary exhibition is in town. The museum seemed to have gone to town on it, and arranged temporary walls and displays to suit that exhibition. Full marks for effort. On the upper floors is a selection of the more traditional art. The emphasis is on Finnish art and artists, which is good as it gives the whole gallery a unified theme and character. The selections are from various centuries and there is a good mix of traditional and modern painting, sculpture, graphic design, film and photography. There are also some non-Finnish guest exhibitions upstairs as well.

I have visited the main art museum in every city I have travelled - and that is a lot. Surely, Ateneum is one of the best. And remember, the classic Finnish art was leading Europe in early 1900s and you find those paintings at Ateneum.

We enjoyed this gallery very much, and would rate it the best we've seen in Scandanavia. The building is magnificent, the space superbly arranged. The range of works was excellent with fantastic representation from Finnish artists. We didn't quite expect it, but we found a number of the works very moving which is always the test of good art. The Alice Neel exhibition was also extremely good. Highly recommended. Estimated needed time, one and a half to two hours.

My absolute favorite museum in all of Helsinki. Well worth the price of the ticket if you take your time moving through the exhibits and have at least a small interest in Finland and its history. In my opinion, the Gallen-Kallela collection is the star of this small art museum and evokes some very deep emotions. They also seem to have a knack for selecting interesting topics for their rotating exhibits. I would try to go mid-week around early afternoon when it's quietest. A must-see for art-lovers and Fennophiles in Helsinki.

When I visited, there was a tribute to a Finnish artist. Apparently, this woman was amazing! I liked this museum because the walls where the art was displayed were not ornate and distracting. I went during the middle of the work week and it wasn't too overcrowded. It is across from the train station and a very nice looking building from the outside. Entrance fee was included in the Helsinki card.

A nice enough art museum. We saw an exhibition of Scandinavian art and quite enjoyed it. The museum is quite easy to navigate and has a certain charm to it. Located basically across from the main train station, it's easy to find and there a lots of things in the area to do. You can easily pop in while in town shopping or whatever. Everyone who worked there was also very nice and I'd recommend if in town and into art that you stop in (obviously depending on whether the current exhibition running interests you.)

Since childhood one of my favorite museums in Helsinki. Good collection of traditional Finnish artists, changing main gallery items and beautiful architecture.