Sara Hildén
Sara (Saara) Ester Hildén (1905–1993) was a Finnish businesswoman and art collector. After meeting the ceramist Rut Bryk in 1944, she developed an interest in contemporary art. This was intensified after her marriage with the painter in 1949. In the 1950s, she established fashion shops in Tampere and Lahti. Thanks to their success, in 1961 she was able to build an outstanding collection of contemporary Finnish art which was expanded over the years to include items from the world's top international artists. In 1962, it became the basis of the Sara Hildén Foundation which led to Tampere's Sara Hildén Art Museum, opened to the public in 1979. Today the Foundation organizes exhibitions of both Finnish and international art. Early years Born on 16 August 1905 in Tampere, Sara Ester Hilden was the daughter of Kalle Kustaa Hilden and Ida Maria née Kadel. Brought up in Sääksmäki and Lempäälä, when her parents died in 1919 she moved to stay with relatives in Tampere, working as a nanny and a maid. She changed the spelling of her name to Hildén. Career In 1922, she began an apprenticeship in a clothing shop in Tampere and in 1926 became a saleswoman in the city's