A K Dolven, Karoliina Hellberg, Elina Merenmies and Anna Tuori will be featured in The British Museum’s upcoming exhibition Nordic noir: works on paper from Edvard Munch to Mamma Andersson. The exhibition is the culmination of a five-year programme dedicated to building the Museum’s collection of post-war Nordic artwork, featuring over 150 works by 100 artists from the Nordic countries. The exhibition opens 9 October 2025 and runs until 22 March 2026.
The landmark collecting project, supported by a charitable organisation AKO Foundation, resulted in the acquisition by the British Museum of almost 400 works by artists from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – including works by Dolven, Hellberg, Merenmies and Tuori, as well as graphic prints by Jorma Hautala and Matti Kujasalo. The British Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings holds one of the world’s greatest collections of works on paper, consisting of about 50,000 drawings and more than two million prints.
Nordic noir delves into the Nordic melancholy, myths, inner struggles, post-war angst, feminism and the rights of the Indigenous Sámi people. The dominant theme is nature and the vital urgency to preserve the environment unique to the region. To coincide with the exhibition, an illustrated catalogue written by Jennifer Ramkalawon, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Nordic Graphic Art department, will be published by the British Museum Press.
Image: Anna Tuori, Done, 2023, soft pastel and oil pastel on paper, 65x50cm. Photo: Jussi Tiainen