Brief Biography-Ants Laikmaa, known initially as Hans Laipman, belonged to a large, impoverished family in western Estonia; his mother died when he was a child. He first studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1891 and worked in Düsseldorf before moving to Tallinn in 1899. After touring many European countries to learn art, he founded the Estonian Art Association in 1907. He had a relationship with one of Estonia’s most renowned poets, Marie Under, and lived in Finland before travelling again as far as Tunisia. He worked in Tallinn until 1931, after which he settled in the village of Kadarbiku, where he spent the remainder of his days.