Lennuk

In 1910 Estonia was still a province of the Russian Empire, and its writers and painters were busy building a national culture out of folklore. Triik reached for the country's great epic, the Kalevipoeg, and its hero's ship, the Lennuk, which carries the giant son of Kaleva off toward the edge of the world. What's striking is how he pictured that ancient past. Instead of anything local and cosy, he gave the vessel the long lines and carved prow of a Viking ship, and he was the first Estonian artist to draw on that northern imagery for the national legend. He worked here in tempera and pastel on paper, in cool blues and greys. The sheet is now one of the treasures of the Kumu museum in Tallinn.