Tom of Finland Day: Celebrating a Fetish&Kinky Art Icon
Tom of Finland, the pseudonym of Touko Valio Laaksonen (1920–1991), was a Finnish artist renowned for his unmistakable homoerotic drawings. Laaksonen began his career as a commercial illustrator but was already producing what he called his “dirty drawings” in his youth—illustrations of muscular men in overtly homosexual scenarios that would become the core of his work. His imagery portrayed bikers, sailors, policemen, soldiers, lumberjacks, and cowboys: hypermasculine figures proud of their identity and free to enjoy their sexuality, standing in stark contrast to the effeminate gay stereotype of the time. Tom’s first published works appeared in the U.S. magazine Physique Pictorial in 1957, where editor Bob Mizer coined the name “Tom of Finland” for American audiences. From underground artist to cult figure, Tom of Finland is now considered “one of the most influential artists of the 20th century” for his revolutionary portrayals of the male form. Over the decades, his oeuvre—about 3,500 drawings created in his lifetime—has been exhibited in prestigious institutions like MoMA in New York, LACMA, and MOCA in Los Angeles. Often referred to as “Finland’s most famous artist,” Tom of Finland redefined gay aesthetics in the post-war 20th century and left a lasting mark on global visual culture.
Origins and Meaning of Tom of Finland Day
May 8th—Tom of Finland’s birthday—is celebrated annually by queer and artistic communities as Tom of Finland Day. The occasion is promoted by the Tom of Finland Foundation, the nonprofit institution founded by Laaksonen and his partner Durk Dehner in 1984 to preserve his work and promote erotic art. Since at least the mid-2010s, the Foundation has invited fans and enthusiasts around the world to toast Tom on May 8th with the motto “wherever you are, raise your glass.” The idea behind Tom of Finland Day is simple yet powerful: to gather—physically or virtually—to honor a gay art pioneer, share stories and images inspired by his creations, and spread a message of pride and sexual liberation. The observance, though unofficial, is widely celebrated and falls just ahead of the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17, highlighting themes of queer pride and positive visibility. Every May 8th, fans and collectors globally commemorate Tom of Finland’s birth—he would have turned 105 in 2025. The initiative honors Tom’s artistic mission to depict the joy and pride of gay love uncensored, declaring that “gay is good” and that expressing one’s identity and sexuality is an inalienable right. In this sense, Tom of Finland Day is not just a personal tribute but a moment of cultural affirmation.
Events and Celebrations Around the World
Over the years, Tom of Finland Day has inspired cultural events, exhibitions, and tributes across the globe. The Tom of Finland Foundation often organizes special activities on May 8th. For example, in Los Angeles—home of the Foundation’s historic TOM House—live drawing workshops, themed parties, and screenings have been hosted with the involvement of local artists and fans. In Finland, his homeland, institutions have honored Tom with retrospectives timed around his birthday: notably, in 2016, the exhibition “Tom of Finland: The Pleasure of Play” opened at Helsinki’s Taidehalli during his 96th birthday. More recently, in 2020, the centennial year of his birth, virtual events and celebratory publications were held despite the pandemic.
Celebrations have become increasingly international and structured. In 2022, the Foundation curated “AllTogether”, a large-scale group exhibition launched on May 8th in Paris after an earlier opening in Venice during the Biennale. This marked the Foundation’s first international presentation of its vast LGBTQ+ art collection, with over 200 works spanning from the 1940s to the present. In 2023, the Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival took on a traveling format, stopping in Berlin in May, followed by London and Los Angeles. Simultaneously, Helsinki’s Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art opened a landmark retrospective (“Bold Journey”) dedicated to Tom of Finland, cementing his recognition in his homeland as a leading visual figure of the 20th century.
Other related events include screenings of the 2017 biopic “Tom of Finland”, performances inspired by his work, and benefit auctions held by the Foundation to support emerging queer artists. The celebration is also highly visible on social media, where fans share drawings, photos, and memories with the hashtag #TomOfFinlandDay, keeping Tom’s legacy alive in today’s cultural landscape. In short, Tom of Finland Day has become an international occasion for celebration, remembrance, and cultural activism, with gay erotic art proudly embraced across borders.
Legacy and Contemporary Cultural Impact
Today, Tom of Finland is recognized not only as an erotic artist but as a true cultural symbol. His influence has transcended the underground to enter the mainstream. In 2014, Finland issued an official stamp series honoring Tom—among the boldest in philatelic history. That same year, Finnish textile brand Finlayson launched a home linen collection inspired by his work, with the declared aim of spreading a message of “respect and tolerance worldwide.” These institutional and commercial acknowledgments reflect how Tom’s once-controversial aesthetic is now appreciated as part of global artistic heritage and LGBTQ+ visibility.
Artistically and socially, Tom of Finland’s impact is undeniable. His style and iconography inspired generations of artists and photographers: notable figures such as David Hockney, Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, and Bruce Weber have drawn on his vision of joyful, liberated gay masculinity. He was instrumental in redefining queer imagery in a positive light—his drawings projected a world of pleasure and pride, countering narratives of shame and repression. At a time when homosexuality was still criminalized or pathologized in many countries, Tom of Finland had the courage to depict male-male love as a source of strength, joy, and beauty. His bold imagery gave many gay men a way to see their identity differently, encouraging them to embrace it with pride and dignity. It is no exaggeration to say that Tom’s art fueled the gay liberation movements of the late 20th century, providing empowering visual icons during key years in LGBTQ+ rights history.
Tom of Finland’s influence on European culture has been both deep and far-reaching. In countries like Germany, France, and the Netherlands, his aesthetic played a central role in shaping the leather subculture and enhancing queer visibility in both the artistic and fetish communities. Berlin, in particular, has frequently celebrated Tom with exhibitions and tributes at iconic venues such as the Schwules Museum. In 2022, France hosted the Foundation’s first major European-curated exhibition, reaffirming growing critical and institutional interest. The visual language of European fetish culture—especially in magazines and posters from the ’80s and ’90s—owes much to Tom’s hypermasculine aesthetic, which provided a powerful model for building a proud queer identity.
In Italy, although institutional recognition came later than in some European counterparts, Tom of Finland’s legacy is clearly present in the leather and fetish scenes of cities like Milan, Rome, and Bologna. His work has inspired generations of Italian artists and illustrators, including Maurizio Cattelan, who once described Tom as “one of the most destabilizing and liberating visual icons of the 20th century.” In 2017, the biopic Tom of Finland was screened at major queer festivals in Italy, including the Lovers Film Festival in Turin and Gender Bender in Bologna. His impact can also be seen in the visual language and dress codes of Italian fetish events organized by groups like Leather Club Roma and Leather Friends Italia, who consciously draw on his erotic imagery to create spaces of identity expression. May 8th has thus become an opportunity in Italy as well to pay tribute to an artist who helped imagine a way of being gay that is strong, sensual, and unapologetically proud.
Tom’s legacy also lives on through the work of his Foundation. Originally established to preserve his personal archive, the Foundation expanded its mission over time to include the preservation and promotion of queer erotic art as a whole. During the AIDS crisis, many artists entrusted their work to the Foundation to prevent it from being lost or destroyed, recognizing Tom as a pioneer who had carved out expressive space for queer art. Today, the Tom of Finland Foundation holds the world’s largest collection of LGBTQ+ art and supports artists through exhibitions, residencies, and awards, continuing the inclusive and celebratory spirit that drove Laaksonen’s work. In 2023, co-founder Durk Dehner was honored in Finland with the Order of the Lion—an official recognition of the cultural importance of his work in preserving Tom of Finland’s legacy.
In conclusion, Tom of Finland Day is more than a tribute to an artist—it is a moment to reflect on how far queer representation has come and how much further it can go. Tom of Finland’s figure embodies the power of art to challenge taboos and change society: from graphite sketches once shared in secret to museum retrospectives and household products, his imagery has journeyed from subversion to celebration. What was once controversial is now culture. Tom of Finland Day reminds us to honor those pioneers who made it possible to imagine a freer world—and to raise a glass each May 8th to the freedom of being ourselves, without shame.
Bibliography & References
- Durk Dehner, The Art and Legacy of Tom of Finland, Tom of Finland Foundation
- Micha Ramakers, Dirty Pictures: Tom of Finland, Masculinity, and Homosexuality
- Juha-Heikki Tihinen, Tom of Finland: The Pleasure of Play, Helsinki Taidehalli
- Whitney Mallett, Wallpaper Magazine (2020): “Tom of Finland’s Century”
- Artribune: Recensioni Mostre, Tom of Finland alla Biennale di Venezia
