The first installation of the Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art was completed in October 2006, when the museum opened to the public. After the collection had spent a long period in storage, as broad and diverse a selection as possible was presented. The exhibition featured around 500 works. It received a great deal of positive feedback, particularly for showcasing the historical continuum of Finnish art up to the present day—something that, in 2006, was not available elsewhere in museums in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

The opening exhibition was curated by Päivi Karttunen and Leena Peltola.