After 35 years, Bear joins a private collection
Mika Anttila painted Bear in 1991, and for more than three decades it stayed with him. In October 2026 it entered the private collection of the Finnish recording artist Lauri Haav.
Text: Eerik Anttila
Some paintings leave the studio straight away. Some stay.
Bear stayed. Anttila painted it when he was just past twenty, and for the next 35 years it remained with him.
As a young painter Anttila admired the technique of the Russian master Ivan Shishkin. Bear grew out of that admiration, but Anttila wanted it to hold something he had not found in the master’s work.
“Heart. So that it wouldn’t be just a nature painting, but there would be something more in it.”
The painting went through many stages. At times Anttila had to walk away from it, and at a few points, he says, he went to lie down on the bed and nearly cried.
The background came last: the trees fading into the mist and the way the light shimmers between them. Under a spotlight the depth comes forward, and even the farthest trunks separate from the haze.
“I paint faster now, but I couldn’t make one like this anymore. There are so many small nuances and layers in it that they can’t be copied again. This work is the only one in the world.”
Over the years there were offers. Anttila did not want to part with it, and least of all to give it to just anyone.
The message came in August 2026. Lauri Haav had come across Anttila’s paintings online, and it was Bear he wanted. At first Anttila wondered whether a buyer so much younger would understand what had gone into the work. Then he read Haav’s message, and that settled it.
Haav painted a lot of graffiti when he was younger and has come back to painting in recent years.
“That’s why I value this so much. I know myself what an insane amount of handwork it is.”
The painting was handed over in October 2026. Asked how it looks in person, Haav laughs: “Better, of course.” The frame earned praise of its own. In the painting, Haav says, he saw himself.
“I’m originally from Central Finland, from Jyväskylä. I got the feeling that I had come through the forest, out here into the light.”
The bear has always been part of his life in one way or another. As a child it gave him nightmares; older, he has made his peace with it. He and his brothers all have bear tattoos.
“It’s so powerful, but so calm.”
Bear went up on the wall the same day.
For thirty-five years it stayed with its painter. Now it is with someone who saw himself in it.
About the work
- Work
- Bear, 1991
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 103 × 130 cm
- Provenance
- In the artist’s possession 1991–2026. Acquired directly from the artist for a private collection (Lauri Haav), Finland, 2026.
