A Life of Color and Connection Ants Laikmaa emerged from a humble beginning as the thirteenth child of a poor Estonian family in Araste. His early years were marked by the quiet landscapes of his childhood and the loss of his mother, yet these hardships did not stifle an early, growing interest in the visual arts. He sought formal training far from his home, studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy between 1891 and 1893, and again in th…