‘Powerful spirit that reflects the soul of the nation’ – M K Čiurlionis: Between Worlds at the Dulwich Picture Gallery until March

By Molly Pavord

The Dulwich Picture Gallery have opened Lithuanian artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis’s first major UK exhibition – M K Čiurlionis: Between Worlds, which is set to run until March, 12 2023.

In the words of the Society of Lithuanian Art: “In the paintings of the artist it is not only his powerful spirit that is manifested; they also reflect the soul of the whole nation.”

In his life, spanning from 1875-1911 Čiurlionis produced 400 pieces of music and in the final six years of his life, 300 pieces of art, all of which were inspired by his extraordinary musicality and his intense sense of patriotism.

The artist witnessed his nation in turmoil as the threat of Russian assimilation left its cultural heritage at peril.

Like many others, Čiurlionis was a champion of Lithuanian independence, and in his work, he strove to preserve the legacy of its folk law and mythology by perpetuating old national beliefs such as paganism in his art.

Upon his death at aged 35, he donated all of his art works to the Society of Lithuanian Art.

Within this political framework, the exhibition fuses themes of spirituality, religion and the celestial.

Curator Kathleen Soriano, said: “Over six short but feverishly creative years, the young Lithuanian composer and artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis produced an exceptional body of work that has elevated him to the status of national hero in his home country, yet he comes as a revelation and relatively unknown to those of us more familiar with the traditional art history canon.”

“Today, his music is played by orchestras over the world, but his paintings have rarely left Lithuania. This makes this Dulwich Picture Gallery exhibition even more visionary in bringing such a deserving artist to an international audience.”

Widely regarded as a Lithuanian Blake, a forerunner of the abstract art movement and a ‘mystic visionary’, ČCiurlionis’s eclectic style vibrates with life and imagination through his profound use of symbols.

Ms Soriano said: “Throughout his work, Čiurlionis used symbols and shapes to create a shorthand of meaning, not to obscure or complicate but to enable our understanding and to help us to “feel” his paintings – his ultimate goal.

“His body of work has an intensity of vision and, at its heart, aims to transcend different worlds, to reach higher, mystical planes where art and music, abstraction and figuration, light and dark, calm and chaos, nature and the spiritual, exist in harmony.”

Having lived a relatively poor life, most of Čiurlionis’s pieces were painted with tempera on pieces of cardboard, a fact that contradicts the richness of his imagination and vivacity.

The artist once wrote: “I imagine the whole world as a great symphony”.

In its completed form, his symphony sang of spirituality, patriotism and independence.

Pictured: Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and his artworks. Pictures by Anne Tetzlaff