After an initial dominance of Baltic-German artists, the number of ethnically Estonian artists working alongside their native Baltic-German contemporaries started growing rapidly in the mid-19th century. The first Estonians with professional training in art were the painter Johann Köler (1826–1899, an important figure in the beginnings of the national movement along with Jakob Hurt and Carl Robert Jakobson) and the sculptors August Weizenberg (1837–1921) and Amandus Adamson (1855–1929). All three were connected with the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg, both as students and teachers/academicians, and travelled extensively in Europe. Their work drew inspiration from the Kalevipoeg, mythology and daily life since the 1860s; they also portrayed leading figures of the national movement, notably Lydia Koidula, often without a commission and even donating their monumental works to the nationalist cause. Stylistically they remained close to Academicism and neoclassicism, as exemplified also in the work of their Finnish colleague Johannes Takanen (1849–1885).

The national form in art became an issue only around the turn of the century, largely enforced by the turmoil surrounding the 1905 revolution. Even with Ants Laikmaa (1866–1942), usually considered the leading nationalist painter and activist, it was the subject matter rather than the style that marked his work as national. Following the international styles of National Romanticism and Impressionism, but affected by his studies in Düsseldorf, Laikmaa mostly painted portraits, both of figures in the national movement (most notably Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, 1903) and common people, often in national costume. Laikmaa had participated in ethnographic expeditions in the 1890s.

With his own art school in Tallinn (Ants Laikmaa Ateljeekool) from 1903 until 1932 (with an interruption 1907-13 when he was banished for political activism), Laikmaa became the teacher of an entire generation of nationally-minded artists. He initiated the first (as yet modest) exhibition of Estonian art in 1901; a grander display followed in Tartu in 1906. The third one in 1910 already travelled to Tartu, Valga, Pärnu, and Tallinn. Laikmaa also established the Estonian Art Society (Eesti Kunstiselts, 1907-19). In 1914 the Tallinn Industrial Art School (Tallinna Kunstitööstuskool, now Estonian Academy of Arts) grew out of its activity, oriented at nationally inspired arts and crafts. Handicraft became a source of inspiration for young artists and designers. An Estonian style was developed from copying vernacular patterns and motifs, especially in textile and furniture design. Active attempts to revitalize ethnographic traditions by means of specialized magazines, newspapers, and handicraft courses were mostly directed at women.

The younger generation turned from this instrospective orientation to modern forms as emerging in Europe at the time. Art Nouveau influences are visible in the paintings by Paul Raud (1865–1930), Symbolist interpretations of national mythology in August Jansen (1881–1957), Aleksander Uurits (1881–1918), Peet Aren (1889–1970). Along with Laikmaa and Kristjan Raud, younger artists – the sculptor Jaan Koort (1883–1935), the painters Nikolai Triik (1884–1940), Konrad Mägi (1878–1925), and Aleksander Tassa (1882–1955) – became associated with the literary group “Young Estonia” (Noor-Eesti, 1905-19). Many of them had studied at Stieglitz’s School of Technical Drawing (now St Petersburg Art and Industry Academy), and after the 1905 events relocated first to Finland, later Paris.

Few monumental history paintings were undertaken, despite the prevailing taste for Viking Romanticism and mythological battles that marked Finnish National Romanticism and Russian artists such as Nikolaj Rërih (1874–1947). Tõnis Grenzstein (1863–1916, a representative of the “Düsseldorf School” along with primarily Baltic-German artists), Aleksander Promet (1879–1938), and Ado Vabbe (1892–1961) provided illustrations of the Kalevipoeg. The most notable National Romanticist in 1910s was Oskar Kallis (1892–1918, called the “Estonian Gallen-Kallela” by contemporaries), who made numerous pastel drawings on Kalevipoeg topics in the manner of Art Nouveau between 1911 and 1918.

The endeavours of the younger generation culminated in the activity of Vikerla, the Society of Young Sculptors (Noorte Kujurite Ühing Vikerla, 1917-18), though actually comprising painters like Kallis. Most members were students of Laikmaa; half of the group was killed during the Great War. To prevent war damage, many artists were involved in the work of voluntary art protection committees (kunstikaitse toimkond, 1919-21) led by Kristjan Raud, assembling tangible heritage, artistic, and archival sources.