Here’s your quick guide: To spot EMMA, the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, look just ahead for a striking low, wide concrete building with big glass windows, bold signage saying “WEEGEE”, and several bright orange umbrellas in front-right at the heart of the plaza.
Welcome-right in front of you rises the Emma Art Museum, the largest art museum in Finland! You might notice it’s housed inside a grey, powerful, very 1960s building-a bit like a fortress of creativity. This is the iconic WeeGee house, designed in the style of concrete brutalism by Professor Aarno Ruusuvuori. Imagine the buzz in the 1960s, when this was simply a printing house for Weilin+Göös-giant machines whirring, paper flying about, employees racing between stacks of fresh books.
But here’s where the mood shifts. Fast-forward to today, and those powerful printing presses have faded into the past. The building echoes now with the quiet shuffle of art lovers, the hush of excitement before a new exhibition opens, and the occasional laughter from school kids on class trips. In 2002, Espoo city made a bold move by founding the Espoo Museum of Modern Art Foundation, and after years of renovation, EMMA opened to the public in 2006. Did you know? With over 6000 square meters of exhibition space spread across the first two floors, you could spend all day exploring-and maybe only see a fraction of the art!
If you peer at the windows, you can already sense that something magical happens here. Inside, EMMA’s collections are layered with treasures. There’s the Saastamoinen Foundation collection with over 2,800 modern and contemporary works-everything from dramatic paintings to mind-bending video art. Don’t miss the permanent display either: about 150 pieces at any given time, plus a specialized space dedicated to digital and media art-ready to surround your senses with wild sights and sounds.
You’ll find the Tapio Wirkkala Rut Bryk Foundation collection too, which celebrates two of Finland’s greatest creative minds with more than 3,000 objects, from glass art to prototypes, sketches, and those little magical doodles made late at night in the artists’ studios. Since 2017, these are housed in a special storage-exhibition hybrid-a cross between a secret vault and an artist’s playground-where you can see masterpieces up close, almost like peeking over Rut Bryk or Tapio Wirkkala’s own shoulder.
But wait, there’s more! In November 2022, EMMA unveiled a whole new exhibition space for the legendary Collection Kakkonen, built from years and years of passionate collecting by Kyösti Kakkonen-over 10,000 pieces strong! If you like ceramics or glass, this is your wonderland. Need a little laugh? Remember, in an art museum, it’s okay to stare at a vase for ten minutes as long as you look deeply thoughtful-bonus points if you nod solemnly.
And for tech fans, the Cartes collection brought a wave of media art and experimental tech-powered pieces since merging with EMMA in 2013. Lasers, projections, and digital oddities have a home right here, too.
The inside of WeeGee actually contains more than just EMMA. Your ticket lets you peek into the famous Futuro House (space-age, UFO-shaped and groovy), the playful Mauri Kunnas exhibition, and the local Espoo City Museum. Right nearby is the Leikki toy museum and a whole museum for clocks and jewelry-so time, design, and childhood memories are all neighbors.
Of course, outside, the sculpture park greets you with pieces plucked from EMMA’s own collection-giant shapes by Matti Peltokangas, cool water-inspired forms by Eero Hiironen, and a piece called Virta I by Raimo Utriainen, which looks almost like a wave caught in concrete.
Over the years, EMMA has hosted all kinds of exhibitions-ranging from classic modern big names to quirky, futuristic newcomers in design and digital art. In fact, EMMA won Museum of the Year in 2018, which is kind of like Finland’s top award show, just with more applause and fewer ball gowns.
So, step on in-let your eyes wander, your curiosity fly, and maybe, just maybe, discover a new favorite artist behind every corner. Just watch your step… some of those sculptures might be staring back at you!
To delve deeper into the museum directors and boards, exhibitions or the collections, simply drop your query in the chat section and I'll provide more information.
