HELSINKI.- Next year, the Sinebrychoff Art Museum will host three temporary exhibitions. Night – the first to open – examines this mysterious time of day, attuning us to its atmospheres with the aid of poetry. The Anna Sinebrychoff - Ahead of Her Time exhibition opens in March, spotlighting an exceptional woman closely tied to the Museum’s own history, and who ran the Sinebrychoff Brewery at the end of the 19th century. In September, the year’s international exhibition takes us on a journey to 17th-century Rome, led by the artist Mathias Withoos, and introduces us to the Bentvueghels artists’ group, who bubble over with joie de vivre.

Night
12.2.–23.8.2026
Sinebrychoff Art Museum, 1st floor

Night is more mysterious than day. Most of us sleep through these mystical hours; by day, people work and the cogs of society whirr. Besides rest, the night means dreams, where things are peculiar and a bit askew. This exhibition explores the night and the world of dreams, taking us from dusk to dawn.

It shows the many faces of the night: kind, sad, scary, and serene. Not everyone gets to rest when night falls. For tired, sleepless parents, night workers, nightmare sufferers, and homeless wanderers the night can be long and lonely. Even if you can lay your head on a pillow in the evening, your mind may still start to wander its own pathways.

Dreams are collective and universal, as well as being a very private and inexplicable borderland of visions. Bedtime stories and counting sheep serve as rituals that coax us into the wellsprings of slumber. You never know where dreams will take you. It might be a journey into space, your own kitchen, or down a rabbit hole.

Here, the artworks carry on a dialogue with poetry, written by the poet Henriikka Tavi. Besides old European art, the exhibition features paintings, prints and sculptures from the 19th century up to the present day, all from the Finnish National Gallery’s own collection. Designer Lauri Johansson is responsible for the exhibition’s architecture, and it has been curated by curator Kersti Tainio.

Anna Sinebrychoff – Ahead of Her Time
3.3.2026–29.8.2027
Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Red Cellar

Anna Sinebrychoff (1830–1904) was an exceptional woman who ran one of Finland’s most successful businesses, the Sinebrychoff Brewery, at the end of the 19th century. She was aware of her own influence and used it single-mindedly as chair of the company’s board, in Helsinki’s social circles, and in charity work. Her life is closely bound up with the Museum’s own history. She lived in a grand apartment in this building on Bulevardi for more than 50 years, leaving her children a sizeable financial and psychological legacy.

Anna Sinebrychoff (1830–1904) had a bourgeois girl’s education, married the successful businessman Paul Sinebrychoff (1799–1883) in 1850, and they had four children. On her husband’s death, she attained a position that was rare for a woman in Finland, as majority shareholder and chair of the board of a large company. In the latter half of the 19th century, she became the most important woman in the prominent Sinebrychoff Brewery clan. She resolutely led the family and kept a close eye on the work of her two sons as they managed the company. She was the undisputed matriarch and a revered grandmother. Anna Sinebrychoff died in 1904. The numerous obituaries noted her extensive charitable work.

She was the subject of an exceptionally fine series of portraits, each testifying to her eminence. Albert Edelfelt, the most famous Finnish portrait painter of the 19th century, made four large paintings of her, which are now being seen together for the first time. In the 1890s, Anna commissioned two more portraits of herself from the artist Gunnar Berndtson, now on public display for the first time.

The exhibition offers a broad overview of Anna’s life and work in Helsinki from the 1850s onwards. At its core is Anna Sinebrychoff the active influencer: bearer of responsibility for the family and business, benefactor, prominent figure in associations and societies, and member of the Orthodox congregation. All of this places her at the centre of the social and economic changes of her time. The exhibition is curated by the Chief Curator, Ira Westergård, PhD, and the exhibition architecture is by Designer Lauri Johansson.

The Peacock in the Garden – Mathias Withoos and Rome
24.9.2026–10.1.2027
Sinebrychoff Art Museum, 1st floor

Friendship, inspiration, and the joys of togetherness! That was Dutch painter Mathias Withoos’ (1627–1703) experience of joining the Bentvueghels group. Young, enthusiastic Dutch artists travelled to Rome and formed their own community that bubbled over with exuberance, and which had art at its centre. The exhibition shows the works of Mathias Withoos and the Bentvueghels artists’ group.

Like many of his colleagues, the painter Mathias Withoos joined the Bentvueghels during his stay in Rome around 1648–1653. His time there was to have a major impact on his career. Rome can be seen in his art in the landscapes, which he framed with abundant plant motifs. In his signature still-life paintings, undergrowth teeming with life is combined with elements from a sublime urban landscape. In his oeuvre he repeatedly returned to Roman and Italian influences.

The Bentvueghels group sprang up among Dutch and Flemish artists in Rome around 1620, and the community continued in existence for a century, until 1720. They were boisterous revellers who spent time in close-knit togetherness in their new city. The community had its own initiation rituals and members were given nicknames to match their characters and personal mannerisms.

But being in Rome was about more than just carousing. They took art making and artistic development seriously. The members of the Bentvueghels were especially keen on drawing and painting in the open air, and often travelled together out of Rome to the Tivoli Gardens. The artists wanted to learn from the Italian masters, and also sought out new views in the city. The group included, among others, Caspar van Wittel (1653–1736), Jan Both (1618–1652) and Cornelis van Poelenburgh (1594–1667), whose works are in this exhibition.

With the exhibition the museum celebrates the power of togetherness and the uniqueness of shared moments, as well as the importance of belonging to a group. The exhibition showcases the Bentvueghels artists’ group and, of its painters, especially the work of Mathias Withoos. There are paintings and rare drawings, mainly from Dutch museums and private collections, as well as prints from the Finnish National Gallery’s collection, from the 17th century. The exhibition has been curated by curator Salla Heino.