Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on canvas. 1950s.
Signature: NINEMAE

Boris Ninemäe (1925-1991) who fled to Sweden with his parents in the 1940s, was not yet an adult when he left Estonia. The dramatic, hurried crossing of the Baltic Sea remained in the man’s memory for the rest of his life and a longing for his homeland permeates his work abroad – we often find women and men on the beach there, silently gazing at the sea.

The powerful figural composition of “Leaving” which is the absolute pinnacle of Ninemäe’s work, carries in a concentrated form the emotions experienced at the time and is a manifesto for the great escape of 1944, which will be 80 years old this year. Numerous exhibitions and conferences were organized across Estonia this year to commemorate the pivotal year, including a documentary film that re-enacted the events of the time.

The participants planned to sail from Hiiumaa to Sweden but it was somehow significant that the planned trip had to be postponed due to strong winds – a choice that those who went there did not have. A group of people facing the water through a strong storm wind do not know what awaits them but one thing is certain – they cannot stay because the Red Army is rapidly approaching.

With their skirts in the cool water beating against the rocks and their arms around their bodies to protect them from the wind, the family waits for the ship – the elements of nature and man face to face. At this moment, however, they are not enemies but rather man completely trusts himself in the bosom of nature, which in the pasty brushwork is expressed by the blending of dark clothing with the mud-colored earth and sky. Ninemäe demonstrates himself at the highest level as a conveyer of atmospheric phenomena and as a director of the rhythm within the picture.

Text: Katre Palm