It’s the week of Finnish ski-holidays (not that the weather is appropriate for ski-holidays, but I guess further north you might actually have a chance to do some winter sports). So there are no baby classes taking place and since the sunny period of yesterday afternoon is gone again, I needed some distraction today in order not to get cabin fever.

So, after lunch, the little one and myself went to the Turku Art Museum. Fortunately, Finnish museums are real fun, even with small babies, so it didn’t surprise me that I was greeted by a very friendly and supportive guy who showed me around, showed me the elevators, assured me that I can take the stroller into the exhibitions, showed me the baby chair in the café, opened the doors for me and so on.

The exhibition itself was interesting but not overwhelming. There is a nice temporary exhibition about Emil Wikström, a Finnish sculptor. Three or four Finnish paintings which I actually liked (I am a bit conservative here: while I appreciate modern art, I actually prefer looking at older paintings). And a whole lot of scary paintings which looked like some of my worst nightmares had come true. A video of an old man with wide open, almost blank eyes who was frantically jumping up and down to classical music. A big red picture with a photo of a snarling doberman. Snow White spiked on a sawblade. What is that supposed to mean? Are the fairy tales in danger? Does it symbolize some brutal cut between childhood and the earnest of adulthood? Or did something bad happen between Snow White and the dwarfs?

In the next room, we saw a silver banana, half-peeled, with a shiny top. Since I accidentally stumbled into an exhibition by Helen Chadwick, I know what that means….(At that time, I still thought the chocolate fountain was just a chocolate fountain).

How good that the little one is too young to understand what she is looking at.

After 20 minutes, we arrived at the ground floor again. I always feel slightly bad if I am done with exhibitions too quickly – it is as if I don’t appreciate the art. Which I do, but 20 minutes were enough. I had a delicious cinnamon bun and a hot chocolate at the café and left with a small sugar shock.

And in the end, the little one found the coolest piece of art in the cloakroom: the huge mirror with a funny little baby inside…

(Left: Winter landscape by Victor Westerholm, middle: A dog on Red Background by Jouko Lehtola, right: Mother and Child by Emil Wikström)