Baász’s relationship with Finnish culture dates back to the theme of his diploma work. He illustrated the Finnish epic, Kalevala, twice: first, in 1972, for the Romanian publishing house Kriterion, then, in 1975, for the Hungarian Európa. In 1988, he received a scholarship to Finland and had solo shows in Turku and in Stockholm. However, it turned out that the Finn partners had very different ideas about the depiction of their national epic. The stylistic disagreement and the artist’s scandalous Thanks…You Are Free! performance at the exhibition opening in Stockholm forced him to interrupt his stay and return to Romania.