HOME MUSEUM
A Window into Pullinen’s Private Life — and Her Public Role as an Artist and Semi‑Public Home
Opened to the public permanently in 2021, Laila Pullinen’s artist’s home complements both the museum’s exhibitions and the sculpture park. The home museum offers an intimate view of the private Laila Pullinen: what she was like as a person, who her close friends and family were, and how she lived. Despite its museal function, the house has been carefully preserved in its original, homelike state.
Personal objects and the family art collection remain in their original places. Visitors are welcome to sit on the living room sofas for conversation and enjoy tea on the terrace, just as Laila herself used to do. The atmosphere that honours Pullinen’s spirit has intentionally been left unobstructed — no display cases, plexiglass panels, or velvet ropes. The home is meant to be experienced directly.
The home museum reveals an intimate picture of the sources of Pullinen’s art and values. It is fitting that the walls also feature a selection of large‑scale naïve paintings by her mother, Tyyni Pullinen (1909–2008). Their themes range from the lush, paradisiacal nature of lost Karelia to views of Nissbacka as seen through the eyes of a sculptor’s mother. Identifying strongly as a Karelian artist, Pullinen experienced the painful loss of her roots at a young age. After years spent in Europe, she wished to create a new safe harbour for her family and to re‑establish her roots in Finland.
A new beginning became possible through her husband, Carl‑Magnus Ramsay, whose family estate at Nissbacka became their home in 1981. As a protector of cultural heritage, Pullinen delved into the history of the estate — quite literally: many of the old utilitarian objects decorating the fireplaces were discovered in the manor’s fields. The eclectic mix of objects and stylistically contrasting furniture reflects Pullinen’s keen aesthetic eye. Alongside simple foam furniture sit meaningful antiques and exceptional objects from around the world: an Etruscan bowl, a votive sculpture from a burned Catholic church, a work desk from Ateneum, dining chairs from the Lallukka studios, and an installation crafted from Jean Sibelius’s old cello case.
The house itself is one of the museum’s most fascinating elements. Built in 1925 as the estate steward’s house, it assumed the role of the manor’s main building after the devastating fire of 1934 that destroyed the original manor. Pullinen added her own story to the building when she settled at Nissbacka, where she remained until her passing in 2015.
The home museum incorporates the artist’s home as it existed during her lifetime. Pullinen designed and constructed the first floor — or piano nobile, as she called it — as a semi‑public space in the European tradition. Naturally, the home contains art, though not her own. In many ways, the home museum highlights a side of Laila that has received less attention: the networker, enabler, connector, bridge‑builder, patron, and friend.
Pullinen dedicated her life to art — not only to her own significant body of work but also to advancing the position of artists on societal and international levels. Among the signs of her activism are the personal gifts she received from the Guerrilla Girls collective. The artworks displayed in the home museum tell a story of deep professional networks and long‑lasting relationships.
Her long personal and professional partnership with Jaakko Sievänen (1932–2013) is reflected in a powerful collection of works: early informalist paintings, a large variation on the theme Lemminkäisen äiti itkee poikaansa (Lemminkäinen’s Mother Weeps for Her Son), and two early portraits of Pullinen. Works by other members of the “March Group” and artist friends are also exhibited — including Esko Tirronen, Ulla Rantanen, and Kain Tapper.
The collection further includes a compelling overview of Pullinen’s circle of friends and colleagues — and, by extension, of Finnish visual art: Erik Enroth, Tuulikki Pietilä, Kimmo Pyykkö, Lars‑Gunnar Nordström, Kuutti Lavonen, Urpu Ilasmaa, and Tero Laaksonen. Her international connections are represented by a significant collection of graphic works by Spanish academicians: José Luis Sánchez, Amadeo Gabino, Vaqueros Turcios, and Salvador Dalí.
