Farmhouse in Läänemaa

Ants Laikmaa’s programmatic goal was to depict the life (nature, milieu and people) of his homeland. Despite having travelled and studied abroad, Laikmaa, unlike many other Estonian first-generation modernists, did not turn into a cosmopolitan. His motifs were firmly rooted in Estonian landscapes, and Laikmaa mostly highlighted coziness rather than spectacularity. His works speak about home and homeland, and farmhouses seated in the midst of nature with paths leading up to them evoke nostalgia and yearning in the viewer.

In this work there are two large sections of colour that are worthy of special attention: the dimness of the lower part of the painting is suggestive of a late afternoon, yet the sky has been rendered in bright colours, instilling optimism and hope. Perhaps this has to do with the year the work was created (the year Estonia became independent) and is therefore politically charged.

Laikmaa focussed on Läänemaa (West-Estonia), where his homestead was. Läänemaa was an economically inferior region because of its low-fertility soils and the ensuing poverty. Laikmaa never highlighted any social tensions in his works, but focused on rendering a sense of home.