“Wiiralt with a Twist” brings to viewers an important selection of Eduard Wiiralt’s work from the private collections of his greatest admirers. The exhibition presents well-known, lesser-known and rarely exhibited works from Wiiralt’s first Paris period and his second Estonian period. These two creatively significant stages reveal different facets of Wiiralt’s artistic language — his masterful line, sharp sense of character, grotesque vision, humour, restlessness and human depth. The exhibition introduces Wiiralt as an artist of exceptional technical mastery, imagination and multilayered wit, whose work continues to speak to different generations today.

Featured works

The exhibition includes several of Wiiralt’s well-known and highly valued works, among them “The Preacher”, “Cabaret”, “Inferno”, “Viljandi Landscape” and “Virve”. These works offer viewers a cross-section of the many sides of Wiiralt’s oeuvre — figures, characters, fantasy worlds, landscape and portrait-like sensitivity.

Provenance of the exhibited works

Eduard Wiiralt Foundation Collection
Sven Pertens’s private collection
Andres Sonn’s private collection
Svea Sildmäe’s private collection

Works from private collections give the exhibition a special dimension. They speak not only of Wiiralt as an artist, but also of the collectors whose interest and dedication have helped preserve, interpret and bring his work to new audiences.

Please select a room below to view the exhibited works in their intended order. We recommend starting with Room 1 and then continuing to the next room.