Moomins’ Sea Adventures & Tove and the Sea @ National Nordic Museum

 Walking through “Moomins’ Sea Adventures” at the Nordic Museum, I felt a pang for my younger self, who didn’t get to grow up with the magic of these small, playful cartoon creatures resembling miniature hippopotamuses. Most American kids don’t grow up with the Moomins, and that’s a shame, because creator Tove Jansson possessed a singular imagination.

I came to her work through her adult short stories, which feature plots — or “plots” — like a woman alone on an island with only a squirrel for company. Islands and the sea recur throughout Jansson’s work for both children and adults, making the Nordic Museum’s dual exhibition feel especially apt.

If you’re new to the Moomins, this is a delightful introduction. The deep-sea-blue walls set the mood for a show that captures the strange emotional weather of Jansson’s work: cozy and whimsical one moment, uncanny the next. Tiny Moomins set off on adventures, bask in the sun and weather crashing storms at sea, while Jansson’s drawings play beautifully with scale — small figures dwarfed by waves, sky and landscape. Just don’t expect a kaleidoscope of color or a high-energy children’s museum experience; while the show is all ages, at least one mom friend found it a bit gloomy for very young kids.

The companion exhibition, “Tove and the Sea,” pairs evocative photographs of Jansson’s life on a remote island with her partner, artist Tuulikki Pietilä, alongside text exploring her lifelong pull toward the water. Though rooted in the Finnish archipelago, the rugged island atmosphere feels surprisingly familiar to a Pacific Northwest audience. And if the exhibition leaves you wanting more Jansson, take it as an excuse to seek out her extraordinary adult novels and short stories, which deserve just as much devotion as the Moomins themselves.