MIKALOJUS ČIURLIONIS. 2015

“Indeed, it is easier to hear music beyond the hills than in a noisy city where concerts are held every night.”

MIKALOJUS KONSTANTINAS ČIURLIONIS – lithuanian artist and composer, founder of professional Lithuanian music, philosopher, poet (1875-1911).

Čiurlionis enthusiastically engaged in astronomy, cosmogony, Indian philosophy. All his life he was in search of a new “beauty of the mysterious.” The desire of people for happiness, the thirst for truth, justice, fraternity lies at the heart of the artist’s work. The dream of the unity of the arts was embodied in the work of Čiurlionis. His heritage is particularly valuable for its “pictorial musicality”.

Čiurlionis is the pride of the Lithuanian people. The first stages of the Lithuanian Renaissance are associated particularly with him. He wrote and processed over 60 Lithuanian folk songs. He composed over 200 pieces for piano, string quartet and organ was in charge of the Lithuanian choir in Vilnius. Throughout 35 years of his life, Čiurlionis created about 400 paintings. The fantasy of the musician, the ability to look into the infinity of space, into the depths of the centuries made Čiurlionis an extremely wide and deep artist, stepping far beyond the realm of national art.

WORKS Author of the first Lithuanian symphonic poems “In the Forest”, “The Sea”, ‘Kęstutis”, “De profundis”. Cycles of pictures: “Creation of the World”, “The Flood”, “The Zodiac”.