Tartu Art Museum

Tartu Art Museum is a state-owned museum of art located in Tartu, Estonia. It was founded in 1940 on a private initiative by the members of local art school Pallas. This is the largest art museum in Southern Estonia.

The main collection consists of works of art by Estonian and foreign artists, associated with Estonia, from the 18th century until now. The collection includes around 23 000 exhibits. The museum presents temporary exhibitions drawn from the museum's collection, and in cooperation with Estonian and foreign museums and galleries. Exhibitions are held in a historical building situated by the Town Hall Square of Tartu.

In recent years, some the exhibitions of modern art in the museum have initiated a wide public debate about the merits and borders of art. The most controversial exhibitions have been MÖH? FUI! ÖÄK! OSSA! VAU! in 2012, exhibiting the most scandalous works of Estonian art since the 1990s, and "My Poland. On Recalling and Forgetting" in 2015, exhibiting modern Polish art about the Holocaust.

Since 2013, Tartu Art Museum has been led by Rael Artel, a former independent curator and gallerist.

In 1918 the artistic association Pallas established the Higher Art School Pallas which later played a key role in local art education. Twenty years after the formation of the Pallas association, they decided to create a museum, and on November 17, 1940, the Municipality of Tartu signed a decree for the establishment of the art museum, which was located at Suurturg 3 (now -Raekoja Square, 3). In summer 1941 the State Ethnographic Museum (now - the Estonian National Museum) gave the museum its 20th century art collection.

During the war the museum had to be relocated a number of times. The most critical situation occurred in 1943 when, during a bombing raid the brick building at Lai 17, which at that time housed the collection, collapsed. However, the majority of the collection was saved. [1] After a number of moves, in 1946 the museum was established on two floors of a building at Vallikraavi, 14. Over time the building has been rebuilt for museum needs. Initially there were storage and exhibition halls in the building, but in 1999 it was decided to close the building to visitors to better preserve the growing art collection. Today the building houses storage, administration, employees' offices, restoration workshops, library and archives.

Since 1988 the Falling House has also been used by the Tartu Art Museum.

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