Joann Voldemar Saarniit

The oil painting Eesti talu (Estonian Country House) expressed the longing of the artist Joann Voldemar Saarniit, who lived in Canada, and probably many fellow refugees for Estonia and the nature here. The Berlin Wall divided the two worlds and Estonia was inaccessible to them in the political conditions of the Cold War. 
Joann Voldemar Saarniit studied art at the Tallinn School of Arts and Crafts under August Jansen and Kristjan Raud, and graduated from the school in 1932 with a degree in decorative painting. In connection with World War II, times were difficult for him as a man of service age. However, the artist managed to escape to Canada in 1948, where he acquired a good reputation as an artist among Estonians in Canada and the USA.