Matti Peltokangas, Leena Luostarinen's funeral monument ’Leena Pantelleria’, 2018, bronze, stone.
The Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki received a significant funerary monument, as Leena Luostarinen's (1949–2013) monument was revealed. The monument is designed by Luostarinen's friend, the sculptor Matti Peltokangas (b. 1952). The bronze sculpture, representing a cat – a well know the subject in Luostarinen's paintings – rests on a stone base. The monument was designed respecting Luostarinen's life and art.
Leena Luostarinen was undoubtedly one of the most important female contemporary painters in Finland. She was a skilled painter and a vivid colorist. The power of emotions, charged with myths and romanticism, is tangible in Luostarinen's body of work. She also drew elements to her works from her many long journeys abroad.