Tõnis Saadoja

Tõnis Saadoja (b. 1980) is a painter whose work primarily addresses the veracity of the image, the influence of the “small” narratives of personal time and art history, and the problematics of memory. Frequently using photography as a starting point for his creation, the artist, who began as a photorealist, is increasingly moving into more pictorially open territory. Saadoja graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Painting (2004) and earned a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of East London (2006). He is the recipient of the Konrad Mägi Award (2015), the Kristjan Raud Medal and Prize (2013), and the Köler Prize Audience Award (2011). Since 2025, Saadoja has been a recipient of the Order of the White Star, 5th Class, and since 2020, he has served as the Head of the Drawing program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Saadoja is one of the most highly regarded practitioners of the oldest representative of visual art – painting – in contemporary Estonia. He has revived monumental painting in public space (the ceiling mural at NO99 Theatre, 2012). The artist’s recent exhibitions include Present Continuous (2025) and Then (2024), both at Tütar Gallery; Lost Summer Skies (with Kristi Kongi) at Pontone Gallery, London (2024); Height Above Sea Level at Kumu Art Museum (2023); and Landscape Passes Through the House (with Paul Kuimet) at Tartu Art Museum (2022).