Sirje Helme

Sirje Helme (née Sirje Reitel; born January 1, 1949) is an Estonian art historian and art critic.

Early life and education Sirje Helme was born in Tallinn, the daughter of the sculptor Kalju Reitel (1921–2004) and the makeup artist Silvia Reitel (née Taalmann, later Kromanov; 1926–1990). She graduated from Tallinn School No. 21 in 1967 and from Tartu State University in 1973 as an art historian.

Career From 1973 to 1975 she was the editor of the publishing house, from 1975 to 1996 the editor-in-chief of the almanac Kunst, from 1989 to 1990 the editor-in-chief of the Kunst publishing house, and from 1990 to 1992 the director of the Kunst publishing house. From 2009 to 2016, she worked as the director general of the Art Museum of Estonia, and she has been a member of the board of the Art Museum of Estonia Foundation since 2016.

Academic activities Helme lectured on modernism and Estonian art after the Second World War from 1989 to 1994 at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater; in 1997/1998 and since 2003 at the University of Tartu; and from 2000 to 2009 and since 2020 at the Estonian Academy of Arts. During the 2012/2013 academic year, she was a professor of liberal arts at the University of Tartu. 2008: Kristjan Raud Art Award (successful launch and management of the Kumu Art Museum) 2008: Order of Orange-Nassau, Netherlands 2008: Officer of the Order of Leopold, Belgium 2012: Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, France 2013: Order of Merit of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2015: Estonian 2023: Commander, 3rd class, Royal Swedish Order of the Polar Star (for services in developing relations between Estonia and Sweden) 2024: Estonian Lifetime Achievement Award for Culture