{"id":537081,"date":"2023-07-12T10:21:21","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T08:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/angelutakais.lt\/20-of-the-most-famous-moments-in-the-life-of-m-k-ciurlionis\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T14:58:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T12:58:25","slug":"20-of-the-most-famous-moments-in-the-life-of-m-k-ciurlionis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/angelutakais.lt\/en\/20-of-the-most-famous-moments-in-the-life-of-m-k-ciurlionis\/","title":{"rendered":"20 of the most famous moments in the life of M. K. \u010ciurlionis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Book cover clipping<\/p>\n\n

The most outstanding and the most unique – this is how anyone who has had the chance to touch his work out of the corner of their eye would describe the most famous Lithuanian painter and composer , M. K. \u010ciurlionis <\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Viewers of the VR film “On the Trail of Angels” share that the integration of paintings and music into virtual reality technology is breathtaking. Others often say that it is a must-have experience for everyone at the age of 21, as this way of streaming art appeals to the younger generation, but is also extremely interesting for older people. <\/p>\n\n

Kristina Buo\u017eyt\u0117, the director of the film “Trail of Angels” ,<\/a> says that the idea to integrate \u010ciurlionis’ paintings into the virtual space was born from seeing the tributes paid to foreign artists, so let’s get acquainted with \u010ciurlionis through the most colourful stages of his life. <\/p>\n\n

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Painting “The Tale of the Kings” by M. K. \u010ciurlionis Canvas, tempera. 1909. 70,2cm \u00d7 75,3cm <\/p>\n\n

The artist, who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, was born in 1875 in what is now Stara Var\u0117na, where he grew up in a family of nine children. <\/p>\n\n

\u010ciurlionis’s first acquaintance with music was due to the influence of his father Konstantinas \u010ciurlionis, who was an organist and choirmaster, and so the future composer learned to play the piano at an early age. <\/p>\n\n

In addition to the instrument, \u010ciurlionis’ childhood was also surrounded by live music, as his father’s mixed choir rehearsals were organised at the \u010ciurlionis’ home.<\/p>\n\n

Interestingly, M. K. \u010ciurlionis was never able to speak and write Lithuanian correctly, and his family communicated in Polish. <\/p>\n\n

Although he was born in Var\u0117no, the future artist spent his childhood in Druskininkai due to his parents’ change of residence. In 1885, he graduated from a folk school and, as it is said, was extremely eager to learn. <\/p>\n\n

In 1889 \u010ciurlionis came to Plung\u0117, where he played in the orchestra of the court of the patron of culture, Duke Michael Oginski. His first steps as a composer were made here, when his first small-scale works were born. <\/p>\n\n

The path of discovery<\/h2>\n\n

In 1894, after receiving funding from Prince Mykolas Kleopas Oginski, he went to the Warsaw Music Institute to study piano and composition. \u010ciurlionis studied in Warsaw for five years. <\/p>\n\n

After completing his studies, in 1899, the composer was offered the position of director of a music school in Lublin, but declined the offer because he wanted to deepen his musical knowledge.<\/p>\n\n

After another 3 years of living in Warsaw, where he worked as a teacher in private music lessons, Prince Oginski again offered funding for his studies, and from 1901 onwards \u010ciurlionis continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, where he focused on composition and counterpoint.<\/p>\n\n

Then began the consistent creative process of M. K. \u010ciurlionis. In Leipzig, he began to compose his first neo-romantic musical works. Leipzig, as the cultural centre of Germany, allowed the composer to see and discover operas, museums, and philosophical writings, and his life in Saxony is marked as a time of comprehensive development in the composer’s history. <\/p>\n\n

During his studies at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, \u010ciurlionis composed his first famous musical work, the symphonic poem “In the Woods”, which combines the nostalgia of his homeland with the melodic structures of Romantic music. <\/p>\n\n

It is said that at that time M. K. \u010ciurlionis blossomed as a creator, purified his worldview and acquired his own style.<\/p>\n\n

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The era of art<\/h2>\n\n

While living and studying in Leipzig, \u010ciurlionis became acquainted with the Symbolist works of the Swiss A. B\u00f6cklin and the German M. Klinger. At that time, the composer became interested in art. <\/p>\n\n

After studying at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig in 1902, \u010ciurlionis returned to Druskininkai, where he did not stay long.<\/p>\n\n

In the same year, the composer went to Warsaw to study art professionally, but it wasn’t long before he realised that an academic programme in painting was unacceptable to him. <\/p>\n\n

Although he studied art academically, \u010ciurlionis remained devoted to his own style and was distinctive, inclined towards symbolism. <\/p>\n\n

\u010ciurlionis was fascinated by philosophical insights and visual abstractions. He also interpreted musical works and sounds in his paintings, which is why the experience of the virtual reality film “On the Paths of Angels”<\/a> is so unique – the paintings reflect the symphonies that can be heard, the sound seems to merge with the image. <\/p>\n\n

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SONATA II (Spring Sonata). Paper, tempera. 1907, Druskininkai. 72,8cm \u00d7 62,8cm. <\/p>\n\n

The artist’s work is imbued with a philosophy of the fragility of life, death, eternity and extinction, influenced by life in Leipzig.<\/p>\n\n

Returning to his homeland in 1905, \u010ciurlionis wrote bitterly that he was misunderstood by strangers and relatives alike. People in Lithuania at that time did not understand the artist’s works, and \u010ciurlionis himself was viewed with suspicion and unfavourably. <\/p>\n\n

In 1903-1907, M. K. \u010ciurlionis composed one of his most famous musical works, the symphonic poem “The Sea”, but he felt more and more inclined towards art. <\/p>\n\n

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