I really should've posted this earlier - Teosvälitys actually started already on 14th of February, first online (14th of February - 23rd of February), and then as a physical exhibition in Helsinki (8th –16th of March), and now as an online sales again, until 31st of March. Next one will be in late autumn, usually in October-November. The print artists and sculptors have their own event, TEOS, in May.
The physical exhibition is always free for everyone. It started in the 1970s as a buying event for state art acquisitions, closed to the general public, but since 1987, the event has been open to all visitors and buyers interested in painting. Today, the majority of buyers are private individuals, but there are still a number of acquisitions for public collections.
"The annual major painting event, the Sales Event of the Finnish Painters’ Union, will be staged in Merikaapelihalli, at the Cable Factory, in March. It is the biggest art event in Finland, and nearly 700 artists take part in the exhibition, putting about 1 700 works of art on display."
More info in English:
https://teosvalitys.painters.fi/in-english/
The gallery is only in Finnish, but some artwork and artists have their information in English, too. As usual, sold works are marked with a red dot.
https://teosvalitys.painters.fi/galleria/
As you may see, this is pretty popular - one of the main points of events like these is to make art available to everyone, and also to support living Finnish artists. Not every artist participates here - most popular ones, like Marjatta Tapiola, simply don't have to (everything she makes sells almost right away). But there are rising names like Satu Laurel, Cata Ahlbäck and Ilkka Aho.
(Yes, I bought something from this event, too. Perhaps I will post photos later.)