Sara Hildén Art Museum
Modern and contemporary art museum in Särkänniemi park, built for the Sara Hildén Foundation collection.
Sara Hildén (1905-1993) ran a clothing business in Tampere and from the 1950s assembled one of the largest private collections of modern art in Finland. She set up a foundation in 1962 and agreed with the City of Tampere that the city would house the collection. The museum opened in 1979 in the Särkänniemi headland, in a low white building by the architect Pekka Ilveskoski whose galleries are arranged around a central hall and open towards Lake Näsijärvi.
The foundation's holdings run to several thousand works and are shown in changing selections rather than a fixed hang. Finnish modernism is strongly represented, alongside international artists collected from the 1960s onwards, among them Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet and Yves Klein. The museum also mounts temporary exhibitions of contemporary art and keeps a sculpture terrace outside. It forms part of the Tampere art museum organisation and lies within walking distance of the city centre.
Highlights
- Purpose-built 1979 gallery by Pekka Ilveskoski on the Näsijärvi shore
- Sara Hildén Foundation collection of Finnish and international modern art
- Works by Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet and Yves Klein
- Changing exhibitions of contemporary art and an outdoor sculpture terrace
