Summer. Triptych

The artist intended to make the “Summer” series a prolific one. He was dissatisfied with several of his studies. In his letter to Bronisława Wolman he wrote: “I have 8 pieces for my “Summer” series, half of which will most probably find themselves in the fire...” (Čiurlionis, M. K. Apie muziką ir dailę. Vilnius: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1960, 206) Today, they are all interesting.

In the first and third paintings of the “Summer” triptych, the artist reveals the mysterious occurrences of nature from close up. The first composition is a cross-section of the earth that depicts the underground life of plants and embodies the idea of growth itself, from the recesses of thousands of years gone by to another world and another time.

The central composition is the symbolic heart of the entire triptych. A group of poplars at the top of the hill transforms into a hand raised in greeting, whose call evokes the echoing response of a white cloud.

Seen through a foreground of delicately arranged grasses, flowers and moss, the third painting depicts a feminine figure of a white cloud on the horizon – “a symbol of the spirit of summer and of summer itself ,” (Landsbergis, V. Čiurlionio dailė. Vilnius: Vaga, 1976, 143).

From 2024-02-24 until 2024-06-08 this triptych is exhibited in Museum Belvédère in Heerenveen, Netherlands.


Summer. Painting I from triptych.

  • 1907
  • paper
  • tempera, Gouache

Summer. Painting II from triptych.

  • 1907
  • paper
  • tempera, Watercolour, Gouache

Summer. Painting III from triptych.

  • 1907
  • paper
  • Gouache , tempera, Watercolour