Collections & Archives
Pori Art Museum was founded around the Collection of Maire Gullichsen Art Foundation. Today, there are nearly 4,000 works of art in the museum collections. The collections include both Finnish and international art from the early 19th century to the present day.
Collections
Each year, the art museum adds new pieces by Finnish and international artists to The City of Pori Art Collection. These pieces are acquired mainly from artists working in the Satakunta Region, as well as from the art museum’s exhibitions. Art from the museum’s collections can be seen at the art museum’s changing exhibitions and at various events. In addition, the pieces are loaned to other museums and placed in public spaces around the city for the enjoyment of everyone. None of the collections are on permanent display at the Pori Art Museum.
Collection Maintenance and Use
The art collections are maintained on an ongoing basis. Inventories of the works are conducted regularly; works are photographed, and their details are entered in the collection database. Pieces from the collections are loaned to other museums for exhibitions and placed in municipal facilities. Photos of the artworks can also be loaned for various purposes. In addition, future exhibitions are planned based on the pieces in the collections. In July 2021, Pori Art Museum’s facilities were damaged in a fire that was caused by an arson attack on a truck parked next to the museum. As a result of the fire, the collection pieces stored in the museum building were damaged by smoke, soot and water. These 1,200 pieces were moved to an external, purpose-built storage. The restoration work of the damaged pieces is expected to take 2 to 3 years. In addition, all archive materials are now placed in a temporary storage. Because of this, the museum’s collection services remain closed until June 2024 when the renovation of the museum building will be completed.
Archives
Pori Art Museum monitors, documents, records and conducts research on art in the Satakunta region, as well as selected Finnish and international trends and phenomena within the field of art. The museum’s information services are based on its archives, of which the research archive, photo archive and media archive are the most important ones. The official records archive contains statutory documents, and a newspaper cutting archive that documents the museum’s activities has been accumulated since 1979.
