maaaluste

Maaluste is the genitive plural form of the Estonian noun maalaus. In Estonian, maalaus refers to a painting or to the act of painting, depending on context. The genitive plural maalauste is used to indicate possession or association with multiple paintings or to describe a collection or group of paintings.

As a grammatical form, maalauste contrasts with the nominative plural maalaused (the paintings) and with the singular genitive maalause (of a painting). In typical usage, maalauste appears in written and formal contexts such as art historical writing, museum catalogs, and conservation reports. Examples of usage include phrases like maalauste restaureerimine (restoration of paintings) or maalauste kogumine (collection of paintings).

Usage notes:

- Maalauste is primarily a function of Estonian case grammar and is not a separate semantic concept beyond its role in indicating “of the paintings.”

- It commonly appears with adjectives and other nouns that specify characteristics, locations, or actions related to multiple paintings.

See also:

- Maalaus (the act of painting or a painting)

- Maalikunst (visual art or painting as a genre)

Maaluste thus functions as a standard grammatical form used to reference multiple paintings in Estonian, rather than as a distinct topic or named concept.