The Tikanoja Art Museum is the previous home of Mr. Frithjof Tikanoja (1877-1964), a well known businessman in Vaasa. Mr. Tikanoja had fallen in love with fine arts in the late 1910s and immediately started collecting paintings and drawings. The art museum was founded when Mr. Tikanoja donated his art collection to the city in 1951.
The Tikanoja collection is especially famous for its international section containing works e.g. by Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. The collection also includes Finnish art from the 19th and 20th centuries. Traditional masters, such as Albert Edelfelt, Axel Gallen-Kallela, Maria Wiik and Tyko Sallinen are included in the collection as well as younger artists.
Mr. Tikanoja also acted as a patron for the painter Eemu Myntti. His art in the 1920s was against the traditional and widely accepted Finnish art policy because he enjoyed working in the French expressionistic style.
