Vaika Landscape

Eerik Haamer (17.02.1908-04.11.1994)

1945
Oil on pasteboard
60 x 73 cm

"Vaika Landscape" is a deeply personal work with a tragic background story. The home of the Haamer family had been destroyed by bombs dropped by Soviet bombers in the spring of 1944, and his wife had fled to Finland with their children before that already. Shortly thereafter, Eerik Haamer was also to travel to the Vaika islands and stayed there for a few days with a lighthouse keeper that he knew. The Vaika islands are Estonia’s westernmost tip and Haamer decided to flee to Sweden from there by boat with some companions. This work was completed when he was already in Sweden, depicting his last view of his homeland. This subject was so important to Haamer that he repeated it several times during his years in exile. The final version of the painting was completed nearly 40 years after he had left his homeland.