Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis’s Work behind the Iron Curtain: His 1979 Exhibition in West Berlin

Abstract

During the Soviet era, Lithuanian researchers strictly complied with the view that the paintings of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) could not be taken to exhibitions due to their physical fragility. Such a stance was in line with Soviet policy of imposing limits on cultural cooperation with the West. Nevertheless, in 1975, an exhibition of Čiurlionis’s paintings was organized in Moscow and in 1979, in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The article discusses the circumstances of Čiurlionis’s exhibition at Charlottenburg Palace in West Berlin and its reception. A little-known page in the history of Lithuanian culture has revealed that the Čiurlionis’s exhibition was a natural cultural event and at the same time, a clash of power between the ruling authorities. The article sheds light on the prehistory of the exhibition, investigating the actions and decisions that led representatives of the cultural spheres of two opposing political systems to give the green light to this project. It also attempts to answer whether the impressions of the exhibition and its reception by Western specialists had any impact on later assessments of Čiurlionis’s work in the context of European art. The article uses archival sources available in Lithuania and correspondence with the exhibition organizers.