Sakke Yrjölä’s Nordic Fish in Pictures -exhibition until 1.6.2025

Maretarium’s special spring exhibition features watercolour paintings of fish from the North-East Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean by illustrator and graphic artist Sakke Yrjölä. The 36 original illustrations in the exhibition are related to Sakke Yrjölä’s book project “Nordic Fish in Pictures”. Yrjölä’s previous major project was “Fish of Finland” – a book with 71 detailed watercolour paintings of fish species found in Finland. It was awarded in the Most Beautiful Books of the Year competition.

In addition to the technically masterful work, what makes Yrjölä’s Nordic Fish in Pictures book project special is that the illustrator has been involved in catching and documenting the species on site. The colors of the fish begin to change immediately after being lifted out of the water, which is why it is important to capture the catch fresh, scale by scale. Catching fish in their habitat also increases important knowledge about the ecology of the species. Sakke Yrjölä’s fish illustrations are both magnificent works of art and species identification images at the same time. In connection with the watercolour paintings, there are descriptions of the species with distribution maps. In the exhibition, you will get to know the Saithe, which is known as food store freezers and school meals, the Atlantic wolffish with mighty fangs, and the big-eyed Red Fish.

The exhibition is a sales exhibition. Yrjölä has sawed and processed the frames of the paintings from a birch tree he cut down from his own yard.

Sakke Yrjölä has produced his fish pictures into posters, postcards, key rings, magnets and tube scarves, all of which are on sale at Maretarium’s Meripuoti.

Nordic Fish in Pictures -exhibition is included in the price of the Maretarium ticket, welcome!