Karin Luts' earliest travel pictures date back to 1928 when she visited Paris on a Pallas scholarship. According to the exhibition's curator Mare Joonsalu, Luts' pre-war works are the most well-known in Estonia. After emigrating to Sweden in the fifties, a richer creative period began, and many of Luts' works from that period are on show for the first time in "Pictures from Travels."

The artist took advantage of being in the free world to make summer painting trips to France, Spain and Italy. Her favorite destination of all was Venice, where many of her works were created.

"Every time she went on a trip, she would take painting utensils with her and capture all her impressions on paper, either with watercolors or pencil," said Joonsalu.

"Karin Luts lived most of her life in Sweden and was very determined to leave all her work to Estonia. She chose the Tartu Art Museum, and in 2001 all the works arrived here. That's around 3,000 works – paintings, prints, watercolors, drawings and sketches. About 20 years ago we had an exhibition of her works, but only a small selection was on display. Now we are exhibiting the next part of this great legacy," Joonsalu said.

"Pictures from Travels" by Karin Luts is open at the Tartu Art Museum until September 28.

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