Experience Helsinki like Tove Jansson
Tove Jansson (1914-2001), the most widely read Finnish author in the world, was born and raised in Helsinki. She also lived and worked in the city nearly all her life. Tove loved Helsinki, and along with the Pellinge archipelago nearby, the city deeply shaped her art, imagination, identity and life. The architecture, nature and the artist community of Helsinki all had an impact on Tove’s work.
As you wander the city in her footsteps – through her childhood streets, parks and artistic hideaways – you’ll get to feel the roots of the warmth, wisdom and humour in Tove’s art and books.
So, take a tour, spot the rooftops of the Moomin valley, feel the cold breath of the Groke and the beauty of the sea. But above all, approach the city like Tove did: Don’t just rush to see the ‘must-sees’, instead stop and explore what truly moves and inspires you.
Be a child like Tove
Childhood home in Luotsikatu, district of Katajanokka
It’s not the Moomin valley, but the rooftops certainly ring a bell… (You know, if you know: The pointy blue house!)
This is where Tove spent her childhood. As you walk along the street of Luotsikatu – named the most beautiful street in Helsinki – in the Southern Helsinki district of Katajanokka and look up, it’s easy to see how the shapes of the houses have inspired Tove, like childhood surroundings for so many artists do.
Tove and her family lived in the atelier apartment of Luotsikatu 4 from 1914 to 1933. Both of Tove’s parents were artists, her mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, a graphic artist, designed stamps and banknotes, and her father Viktor Jansson, was a sculptor. The apartment was not only their atelier but also a lively base for their artist friends. During winter, the apartment was heated with tile stoves – just like the ones the Moomins lived behind before they found their way to Moominvalley, as told in the first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945).
See a beautiful view from Luotsikatu Street.
Uspenski Cathedral and the Tove Jansson park
Tove’s “hood” were the nearby docks, the cliffs around the Uspenski Cathedral and the park next to it. This is where Tove used to play as a child, and the scenery is present in many of her works.
The Katajanokka park was renamed after Tove Jansson in 2014 to honour the 100th birthday of the artist. Here Tove picked bird cherry flowers for her mum’s birthday, although cautiously, careful not to get caught by the park keeper. Best way to get to Katajanokka has always been the tram (ratikka or spåra in Helsinkian slang). Number 4 takes you directly to the Cathedral, the Tove park and Luotsikatu too.
Halkolaituri ice-skating rink
Here by Halkolaituri Tove used to go ice-skating as a child. In all honesty – she hated it. Tove preferred the open ice of the sea to the closed circle of the skating rink. But like she said, you should go find out for yourself if you like it! So, strap on your skates, glide (or tumble), and if the weather is truly Helsinkian, you might even feel the cold breath of the Groke from the sea.
The school walk from Katajanokka to Korkeavuorenkatu
School, with its rules, did not inspire little Tove. Telling stories did. And that’s what she did while walking to school, every day. She made up stories, wrote them down, drew pictures and sold them as magazines to her school friends.
So, as you walk from Katajanokka to Kaartikaupunki and Tove’s old school in Korkeavuorenkatu 23, listen: What kind of stories start to bubble up in your head?
At the destination you’ll be happy to find out that the school is nowadays the Design Museum – something that certainly would have inspired Tove too. Step in, have a coffee with a cinnamon bun and write down your story before checking out the exhibition.
Breathe in art like Tove
Tove was surrounded by art and artists ever since her childhood. Her parents’ wish was that their children would also become artists. Indeed, Tove mastered the art of being an artist in various ways. You can spot places and spaces – studios, theatres, paintings and museums – all around the city, that underline the length and versatility of Tove’s career and work.
I want to move forward, no, not move, rather play forward in life.
-Tove
Tove Jansson 1947
Ateneum Art Museum
Tove studied at the art school Ateneum from 1933 to 1937. Today it’s known as the Art Museum Ateneum. She wasn’t that impressed with the teaching, especially not the attitude she faced as a female artist. The real gift of the school for her was the circle of artist friends she found there.
Kunsthalle Helsinki
The opening of Helsinki Kunsthalle in 1928 was an important event for the Helsinki art scene and to this date it offers a space for new voices and phenomena. Tove exhibited her art here for more than 40 years. The Artists’ Association of Finland had its office in the building and hosted parties there. That’s where Tove met artist Sam Vanni, who became a teacher and lover to her, and later a long-term friend.
The Association’s parties turned out to be a real turning point for Tove, when she met the love of her life, artist Tuulikki Pietilä in the Christmas party of 1955.
Tove’s studio in Ullanlinnankatu 1
This is where Tove worked from 1944 until she passed away in 2001. Tove moved here just before the ending of the Continuation War with the Soviet Union, and the windows of the studio were still shattered from the bombings.
Later Tove’s companion and life partner of nearly 50 years, Tuulikki Pietilä, also had a studio in the same block. Homosexuality was illegal in Finland until 1971, but Tove and Tuulikki lived openly together ever since they met.
They shared a curiosity for life and art and worked together on various projects. During their first winter together, Tove wrote Moominland Midwinter (1957) which introduces the character Too-Ticky, inspired by Tuulikki.
Tove’s studio is unfortunately not open to the public anymore, but you can admire the windows of her tower studio from the street.
Svenska Teatern
The animated Moomin series is known worldwide, but the Moomins first came to life on stage. Tove’s friend (and former lover) theatre director Vivica Bandler suggested the idea to Tove. The play “Mumintrollet och kometen” premiered at Svenska Teatern in December 1949. The play marked a new era for Tove with many theatre works to come.
Tove at HAM, Helsinki Art Museum
Here you can get to know Tove as a painter. HAM hosts a permanent gallery dedicated to Tove’s art, for example two of Tove’s beautiful frescoes “Party in the City” and “Party in the countryside“. In the “Party in the City” you can find Tove’s then (secret) love, theatre director Vivica Bandler, on the dance floor, and Tove herself sitting in the foreground.
Tip: Tove’s birthday, August 9th, is celebrated also as the Finnish Art Day – and you can visit HAM for free. (info box?)
Feel the islands like Tove
Tove’s Helsinki was really the wintery Helsinki, as she spent all her summers away, on the islands of Pellinge in Porvoo. So, if you visit the city in the winter, congratulations, you are having the true Tove experience of the city! But no worries, if you visit during the summer, there are plenty of ways to capture the island vibe without leaving the city.
Kaivopuisto park and the observatory
Walk along the seaside to Kaivopuisto park. Kaivopuisto was one of Tove’s favourite places in Helsinki, and she often wandered the smooth rocky hills of the park, enjoying the view to the nearby islands. Here, again, you can spot a very familiar looking tower, The Ursa observatory, which inspired the observatory of the Comet in Moominland (1946).
Finally: read Tove!
Whether you want to experience the darkness of November in the Moominvalley, or the smooth, warm rocks of The Summer Book, you are in the right place. Just head to the iconic Academic Bookstore (est. 1893), pick the book of your choice, then the spot of your choice – on the sunny rocks by the sea or by a candle in a cafe – and get inspired by Tove.
“Moomintroll dived into a big wave and swam down through the green bubbles of light. He went deeper and came upon forests of crinkly seaweed swaying gently in the current – seaweed that was decorated with beautiful white and pink shells – and even farther down the green twilight deepened until he could see only a black hole that seemed to have no bottom.“
Extract from Tove Jansson’s book Comet in Moominland, 1946
