This homepage is devoted to all our inner children — even to those who do not believe in the Inner Child, or who still linger in quiet doubt of its existence.

Hello, Dear Visitor!

Welcome to my Home Page! I am Aili Vint, an Artist from Estonia. Europe. I was born in the small town of Rakvere, in the year of 1941. Now my HOME is in Tallinn–Nõmme.

Come in, the door is open!

I am delighted to see You! I am really glad that you have stopped by my HOMEPAGE while bravely surfing the internet. My HOME is also your HOME.

There is a sacred word: MY HOME (the Estonian word: MINU KODU), which holds what the Soul longs for to evoke images of a sacred space in warm light, which soothes the Soul and creates an irresistible longing for HOME again and again....

MEIE KODU - OUR HOME

A sofa on a pinewood base, 2000. Toomas Vint

This picture is a logo for our Home, painted by my husband Toomas Vint.

“Feel at home! Sit down. Let’s talk about Life and Creation. And Home.”

My space is filled with my life’s works and a “menu,” where every piece invites you to taste and experience.

I am now retired, but my romantic spirit whispers that artists never age, never stop creating—they continue until the last brushstroke or chisel cut, standing firm amidst layers of paint and piles of stone.

Sometimes it amuses me to picture myself as a circus horse (having come from the middle of the last century) contentedly grazing in a field. When I hear the sound of circus music echoing in the distance, my heart springs to life, and I perform old tricks with joyful abandon.

“When someone acts from the heart in a way that is important to others.“

That is Life, It's Magic! – This is why ART has touched human souls across the centuries. Art soothes and enchants, awakening in each of us, again and again, a deep inward pull—something akin to a primal, irresistible longing for home: “My little home may be small, yet it is dear to me…”

HOME FOR ART

Already at the dawn of the last century, the old Chinese philosopher Lin Yutang suggested in his book The Importance of Living that we should seek within ourselves the Artist’s Soul— the one always willing to find a completely useless day, just to spend it in a completely useless way.

I, Aili Vint, am precisely that kind of creator—with an artist’s soul— ready to spend with you as many of those seemingly useless days as your heart desires. Even a hundred days, if you wish.
To linger together in that enchanted land of childhood, where everything was still possible.

Do you remember?
In childhood, even our feelings were living beings— characters without whom we could not have played. We were always someone else, stronger, wilder than ourselves. Do not worry— that “annoyingly creative,” dear little Being still lives within you. Just as mischievous, just as radiant as you once were— always the wisest of all, and endlessly delighted by everything you did.

I will create for you a blog-like HOME— a space that gently tempts you to paint again, so you may rediscover the playful magic of being an Artist as a child. And I am glad—yes, glad—that you, too, are a soul of creative spirit, someone who loves art. How do I know?
Otherwise, you would not have lingered here this long.

Come, when you can—perhaps even tomorrow— to play at being a true Artist. To feel once more what it was like to know spontaneous joy in play, and the deep, luminous happiness that comes from making art— pure joy, as only abstract art can give.

ABSTRACT ART

Abstract art is created through the senses.
Dear Thinker—reason alone will not serve you here.
Feelings are abstract—that is your greatest advantage.

The abstract is that which is not concrete, cannot be touched, exists only in thought, in the heart, or in dreams.
Try, if you can, to grasp the invisible— how to do so is the Art of all arts. That is Life. It is Magic.

As Wikipedia describes it: abstract thinking is one of the highest levels of human cognition, allowing us to engage with general concepts and the realm of ideals. Abstraction gives shape to ideas such as “love,” “justice,” “beauty,” or “life”— things not directly perceived, yet understood through the mind.

And when someone acts from the heart in a way that truly matters to others. It is like abstract art.

TOUCHED BY THE ART

I was eight years old when I first felt that I was a true ARTIST.
It happened when I painted together with the most gifted Artist in the world — the Sun.

A STORY… as if we had painted together

This is how it stayed in my soul: summer came to an end. I had to say goodbye to the Sea and return to school. And yet, for once, I was not truly sad— I was even happy, because the Sun, as it departed, gifted me an unforgettable experience that I still carry within me.

As the Sun prepared to leave, the sea became a vast mirror in which the Sky admired itself.

And when the Sun, hurriedly mixing its colors in the heavens, began to paint upon the open Sea, all of nature seemed to hold its breath. No seagull cried. Even the wind fell silent. And I watched—how the Sun painted… how beautifully.

Then suddenly, a feeling touched me — as though I, too, were painting. Even if only with my eyes; the mirror-smooth Sea was our canvas. We had no brushes.

We painted together—just the two of us, the Sun and I. I remember being happy, filled with a wild, daring wonder, thinking that if one could truly paint like this, I would follow the Sun even to the end of the world.

And yet, a small worry slipped into my heart — such a vast SEA would never fit onto a canvas.

Only later, in 1969, did I paint that same seascape of feeling again — this time as a real artist, in gouache, on paper measuring 65.5 by 70.5 cm.

Aili Vint SUNSET 1969 Gouache painting on the paper, KUMU Art Museum

And it's still close to my heart.

My first encounter with great Art from the history of the world was a painting by Camille Corot, created sometime in the 1860s.

At about age 9 I found an ancient, dusty, and completely broken book in the attic - its pages torn and printed in black and white. I remembered when being a curious little girl myself, (like the one painted by Camille Corot around the 1860s), I dreamed that if I could ever sail a boat to the horizon - what might be there! I longed to look down from that very edge of the world. And I made a decision - I told other children too - that when I grow up, I will go and see… what might be there! I’ll do it on foot, if I have to. I longed to look down from that very edge of the world. And I made a decision! - I told other children too: ”When I grow up, I will go and see… I’ll do it on foot, if I have to.

Finally, the dream of that little girl came true, — to reach the horizon and gaze beyond it. The only difference is that this miracle was seen by my child as she saw her Mother (meaning ME :)) walking on the Sea. That when I grow up, I will go and see… I’ll do it on foot, if I have to.

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, "A Curious Girl " (u 1860)

BUT! I know the main reason for becoming an artist is here:

When I was a Child, there was a picture of a seascape with gigantic waves hanging by my bed. It was like a fun toy for me, like a teddy bear for daytime naps. I remember how, at a daily bedtime, instead of going to sleep, I roamed on crests of the waves and slid down to the trough. In that stormy Sea I had my own place to crawl into when I felt sleepy, and so I often dozed off in the embrace of the silky waves.

This picture by my bed was a small replica of The Ninth Wave (1850), by marine artist Ivan Aivazovski.

Ivan Aivazovsky “The Ninth Wave“ (1850) oil on canvas 221 x 232cm

Remember! Everything around us, even the smallest detail, can affect our life.

I dreamed that when I grew up, my painted Sea would also be hanging somewhere on someone’s wall. But where exactly, I couldn’t imagine. Now, more than 45 years later, in Ukraine, at the Tretyakov Gallery’s branch, museum of Ochakovsky (Museum of Marinist painting named after R.G.Sudkovsky), my three nearly identical seascapes stand side by side with the works of the marine artist Ivan Aivazovsky. Now our pictures sleep together in one room!

ME & THE SEA

I feel lucky to have had the Sea as a source of inspiration and my model for over 70 years.
Nothing moves me like the beauty of the Sea with all its wild natural elements. I want to show my painted seascapes, with moods of different senses from extreme to extreme, and tell true stories about them.

For me, the Sea is like a living, spontaneous masterpiece — turbulent and unpredictable, stirring conflicting feelings within us all. Sometimes it pushes us cruelly away, leaving us in silence for years, and then, in moments of grace, beautifully pulls us close again. The Sea simply is. It makes its choices freely, just as art does — wild and limitless.

The Sea has my endless gratitude forever.

AFTER THE RAIN, Oil on canvas, 1982, 100x115cm, artist’s private collection

Sometimes I feel as I am like the Sea - wild and limitless, but also fragile and caring.

Before moving on to my art collections, let’s see what other’s have been saying about me.

Heie Treier, art scholar:

“Aili Vint's work can be called a search for harmony in a world where a person's relationships with themselves and with other people, social relations, and also the relationship between man and technology have lost their balance. The artist sees a way out in creating a new relationship with nature, she pursues this in all her activities and then tries to share her discoveries generously with everyone who wants to hear.

Aili Vint has gone through a long journey in search of harmony, which is reflected in both her life and art. On this journey, she has been spiritually helped by several ancient wisdoms and healing systems, starting with Carlos Castaneda.”

“Aili Vint creates art from the sacred. As a marine painter, she has been able to give more meanings than anyone else in Estonian art. Artist Aili Vint is a moment-catcher. In nature, everything is in motion, and what the artist's eye catches at one unexpected moment, something existential and essential, is gone the next. All that remains is the experience felt by a single person, who has the power to revive the moment, to value and amplify the primal beauty of nature.

This is an extremely direct approach to the art object, and the result allows for contact with the most diverse audience – a rather unusual phenomenon in contemporary high art at all.”

Jaan Kruusvall, estonian writer:

"The world that Aili Vint creates is delicate and elusive, easily vulnerable and damaged. Just like the rest of the world. And just like a person's inner world."

Our daughter Eva-Maria:

“Aili has many professions. Artist, interior designer, builder, gardener, teacher, traveler… Who she really is depends on the day, the situation and the need. She probably doesn't even know it exactly herself. When she was little, she wanted to become a tiger tamer. So that's not out of the question either. In any case, she's a very colorful person.”

My sister-in-law, Kadi:

Aili is the only artist who paints truly transparent water. Just try it, it’s impossible!