Adamson-Ericu Museum

Historical documents from 1542 mention a citizen’s house situated at the corner of Luhike jalg and Ruutli Street. In the Middle Ages it is known to have housed workshops of coppersmiths and locksmiths. During the last few centuries the building served a dwelling house divided into apartments, at the beginning of the 20th century horses were shod in the inner yard. The house was renovated in order to open Adamson–Eric Museum, founded in 1984 after the artist’s widow had granted about a thousand works by Adamson–Eric to the Art Museum of Estonia.

In the main exposition on the first floor are displayed more than 500 artworks by Adamson–Eric, and among them paintings, ceramics, artistic leatherwork, metal forms, jewellery and ceramic decorative plates. On the ground floor and also in the intimate inner yard exhibitions of fine and applied art are held.

Adamson–Eric (1902–1968) was one of the most outstanding cultural figures and creative personalities in Estonia. First and foremost, he was a painter, but he also devoted much of his time to applied art, practising nearly all branches of this realm. Adamson–Eric’s idiosyncratic paintings and pieces of applied art are characterized by elegance, refined colours and a brilliant spirit. His pieces of applied art are unique, in a style close to Art Deco, but are still usable objects. Adamson–Eric’s abundant work reflects the development of Estonian fine and applied art during more than forty years.