Kalevipoeg’s Ship Lennuk

Nikolai Triik was the first to use Viking imagery in his paintings on the theme of the Estonian epic Kalevipoeg, thus transforming the visual representation of the prehistoric past of Estonians. This imagery was largely borrowed from Scandinavian and Russian art, where Viking themes were extremely popular, while there is almost no association with Estonian folk culture. Such a process of borrowing was characteristic of the national romantic style in art, which was at once national and transnational.