In honor of the Moomin 80th anniversary, Tampere Art Museum’s collection artist Tove Jansson has been chosen as the Light Gallery artist of 2025. The light art installation, projected onto the facades of central Tampere buildings, is titled The Moomins’ Journey Home. The illustrations have been selected from Jansson’s very first Moomin story. Light Gallery is part of the Tampere Festival of Light, opening in October.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of Tove Jansson’s first Moomin story, The Moomins and the Great Flood. A total of 15 light artworks based on Jansson’s original 1945 illustrations will be projected onto walls in western downtown Tampere. The Moomins and the Great Flood tells the story of Moominmamma and Moomintroll on their journey to find Moominpappa. Along the way, they are joined by Sniff and Tulippa, and encounter an array of characters – snakes, sea cats, marabou storks, and other magical creatures. The story takes the reader from lush jungle to sugary fairy-tale landscapes, across stormy seas and into the midst of a flood. At last, the travelers find their way to Moominvalley – home to a round, blue house resembling a tiled stove. The Moominhouse symbolizes safety and togetherness, forming the heart of Jansson’s first Moomin tale.

Tove Jansson wrote the story during the Winter War, when painting felt overwhelming. She created a troll-like figure that had previously appeared in her cartoons. Jansson completed the story and its illustrations in 1945. The original illustrations, featuring Moomins with longer snouts than in later works, were drawn in black ink and wash, except for the book’s delicious green-toned cover. The book was published in Swedish immediately after the war, but the Finnish translation was not released until 1991. With few exceptions, the original illustrations belong to the collection of the Tampere Art Museum. Some can be seen in the permanent exhibition of the Moomin Museum as well as in the temporary exhibition Welcome to the Moominhouse!
During the winter, the Moomin Museum will organize free walking tours of the Light Gallery. The tours explore The Moomins and the Great Flood through the light artworks, and share insights into Tove Jansson as an artist and how Tampere became home to the world’s only Moomin Museum. Dates will be announced later.

Light Gallery is a co-production of Tampere Art Museum and the Tampere Festival of Light and has been part of the city’s cultural offerings since 2015.