Applications for the Free Art School’s Four-Year Painter Training Programme 2026 Are Now Open

The Free Art School educates professional painters and supports and strengthens the role of painting in our time. The school both maintains the tradition of painting and renews it on the terms of art and painting itself.

At the Free Art School, students complete a four-year programme preparing them for the profession of painter.

The school has just under seventy students. The student body is diverse, comprising people of all ages from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Students include both young artists and career changers who have completed previous degrees. Each year, approximately 10–14 painters graduate from the school.

Free Art School

• Professional training for painters
• Full-time studies lasting four years
• Approximately 10–14 graduates annually
• Admission through a week-long entrance course
• Students are eligible for Finnish study benefits (Kela), excluding the school transport subsidy
• Teaching staff include leading figures in painting and visual arts

Useful links

• Applying to the Free Art School: Instructions for participating in the entrance course
• Application form for the 2026 entrance course: Entrance course application form

The teaching staff consists of distinguished professionals in painting and visual arts

The intrinsic value of painting and artistic independence have been guiding principles of the Free Art School’s activities and teaching since its founding in 1935. Alongside these, the school recognises and takes into account the wide-ranging indirect effects of art and culture on both individuals and society.

The Free Art School community consists of creative students, permanent and visiting teachers who are among the most significant figures in Finnish visual art, as well as other key experts in the field of art and culture, including lecturers in art history and theory.

Among those who teach or have taught at the school are, alongside her work as Rector, painter Elina Merenmies, as well as painters Hannaleena Heiska (Vice Rector), Eveliina Hämäläinen, Pauliina Turakka Purhonen, Aki Turunen, Erno Enkenberg, Jukka Korkeila, Siiri Haarla, Antti Oikarinen, Karoliina Hellberg, Teemu Mäenpää, Kim Somervuori and Stiina Saaristo. Graduating students have also been guided by numerous other visual artists, including Anna Tuori, Paavo Paunu, Senja Vellonen, and many others.

Private Educational Institution

• Rector: Elina Merenmies
• Vice Rector: Hannaleena Heiska
• Permanent and visiting teaching staff

The school is maintained by the Free Art School Support Association, whose board members for the 2025–2026 term are Jyri Sarpaniemi, Sophia Ehrnrooth, Mona Hoel, Max Mickelsson, Petr Rehor, Petri Saarikko and Seppo Seitsalo. The association has 78 members, primarily artists and other professionals in the arts and cultural sector.

The Free Art School is a private educational institution funded by cultural foundations and the City of Helsinki. In addition to public grants and tuition fees—used primarily for artists’ materials—the school’s finances are supported by paid open drawing and painting courses, rental of facilities, art publishing activities, sponsorship agreements related to exhibitions organised by the school, and a partnership agreement with Yrkeshögskolan Novia. The school also receives private donations and applies for project-based funding to support development activities.

Location

Our premises have been located at the Cable Factory in Ruoholahti since the early 1990s. The school has five large studio classrooms within facilities covering nearly 1,000 square metres. In the bright, purpose-built spaces designed for painting, each student is provided with a personal workspace, allowing for focused artistic work in a calm environment while remaining part of a group that, over the course of the studies, becomes an important community for each student.