Čiurlionis’ Landscapes – between Symbolism and Abstraction

10 December 2015, 18.00Čiurlionis’ Landscapes – between Symbolism and Abstraction – lecture by Anna Baranowa
“Artists who became famous within the field of the synthesis of arts required at least two different talents. Germans call this gift a doppelte Begabung. Yet, usually talents are found in such individuals in even greater intensity. They compose, play, write poems, prose, drama, they paint, sculpt, and design (…). Significantly, the unification of specific values of various forms of art has been achieved by very few. Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911), a Lithuanian composer and painter, poet and theoretician, is certainly among them. He was a visionary who created painted fantasies inspired with music, considered among the most interesting realisations of the idea of correspondence of arts in the first decade of the 20th century. Forgotten for a long time, he has been discovered by wider public only recently. The history of the reception of Čiurlionis’ work is a fascinating topic in itself, while the debate about his place in the history of European art has continued for at least half a century” (excerpt of text by Anna Baranowa titled Meetings with Čiurlionis, Podkowiański Magazyn Kulturalny, No. 45 (winter/spring 2005))

Lecture is a part of the seminar programme of the Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian University: Art of the early 20th century. Poland and Lithuania
Free admission