Two aspects of comparing Čiurlionis and Munch

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis; Edvardas Munchas; Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis; Edvard Munch.

ENLandscapes by Munch and Čiurlionis draw clearly from the Romantic tradition. Compositions with a linear horizon clearly dividing sky and the land, and a remote view without any action or actors, suggest the eternity of the Creator’s will. It is known that both artists were interested in the European, and especially German, Romantics (Caspar David Friedrich, Philipp Otto Runge) and in Symbolism. We can compare the pictures "Island of the Dead" (1880) by A. Böklin, "Starry Night" (1893) by Munch, and "Serenity" (1903–04) by Čiurlionis. A comparison of these three pictures indicates the contiguity between Munch and Čiurlionis, and at the same time their sharp break with Böklin, whom they both liked and studied. The pictures by Munch and Čiurlionis look very unpretentious, even naïve; the artists chose only the most essential and the simplest means of expression to express the subject. That ‘no one knows how’ manner of painting, and at the same time the exceptionally emotional and philosophical suggestiveness of the works, was another radical input into the newly born 20th-century modernism, introduced by Munch and Čiurlionis. The other feature is their unbelievable eminence: many views are presented from an inexplicable perspective, simultaneously from several angles of vision. Because of the informal attitude of their work, and the rejection of generally accepted rules, their works look innovative and modern even today. Their particular style prevents us from attaching them to any school, all the more so that they did not have any direct followers or pupils, as was common in the more formal artistic movements which developed in the cities, such as Fauvism and Cubism. [Extract, p. 226-227]