New University of Tartu Art Museum exhibition brings Voltaire’s influence on Estonian cultural history into focus

An exhibition entitled ‘Voltaire: Making History’ is now open at the University of Tartu Art Museum. For the first time in Estonia, the public will be able to view a unique painting depicting Voltaire and his circle, while the exhibition also explores the French writer and philosopher’s influence on Estonian cultural history.

The exhibition showcases rare items from French collections held in various museums and libraries – books, manuscripts, artworks and archival materials – in a distinctive display that shines the spotlight on Voltaire and French cultural heritage in Estonia and the Baltic States. including previously overlooked intellectual connections between the Baltic region and Western European Enlightenment thought from the 18th century onwards.

Curator Sophie Turner says the exhibition highlights French cultural heritage in Estonia and examines the connections between European cultures – particularly French and German. “An original letter of Voltaire’s, rare printed works and artworks show how French culture reached this region and became intertwined with its cultural and educational landscape,” she explained. “The exhibition is an invitation to discover and reflect on what these works are, how they ended up in Estonia and what they tell us.”.

At the heart of the exhibition is the painting ‘La Sainte Cène du Patriarche’ by Voltaire’s close friend, the artist Jean Huber, which shows this major Enlightenment figure through the eyes of a contemporary. The work has arrived in Tartu on loan from The Voltaire Foundation, a research department of the University of Oxford, and is being exhibited in Estonia for the first time.

“The exhibition also focuses on broader questions,” Turner added: “how Voltaire, a French Enlightenment philosopher, in his fight against fanaticism and steadfast defence of tolerance, spoke to the Estonian intelligentsia two centuries later, and why he became a symbol of satire, critical thought and cultural modernity once again in the 1920s and 1930s.”

These themes are further explored through stage designs by Leida Klaus and Uno Martin, productions by Hilda Gleser and works from the personal libraries of Betti Alver and Mart Lepik. A broader European context is provided by French engravings from the National Library of Latvia, which form part of one of the most important foreign art collections in the Baltic region.

Sophie Turner is a cultural historian whose research focuses on early modern France. Before moving to Estonia, she worked as a lecturer at the University of Oxford, where she earned her doctorate. In Estonia, she has studied French-origin collections at the National Library as well as in museum and library collections around the country.

‘Voltaire: Making History’ was produced in cooperation with the French Institute, the Goethe-Institut and the French Embassy in Estonia. It brings together rare books, manuscripts, artworks and archival materials from collections in Estonia, France, the United Kingdom and Latvia. The exhibition will remain open at the University of Tartu Art Museum until 17 May 2026.