The Visual Music of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis

By: Gustė Matulionytė

‘Visual music’ – these are the words often used to describe the oeuvre of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911), one of the most prolific figures in the history of Lithuanian art. A composer and an artist, Čiurlionis produced more than 200 musical compositions and 300 paintings despite his untimely death at the age of thirty-five. Working at the turn of the twentieth century, he was keenly aware of both pan-European intellectual developments and tensions within Lithuania, especially the growing concern for the nation’s independence from the Russian Empire. In his works Čiurlionis combined international fin de siècle ideas of Symbolism, cosmology, and metaphysics with motifs from Lithuanian folk culture, and presented them all in compositions centred around music.

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, Žvaigždžių Sonata. Allegro [Sonata of the Stars. Allegro], 1908, tempera on paper, 72.2 x 61.4 cm. Source: http://www.ciurlionis.eu

Čiurlionis often painted in cycles and named many of his creations after musical compositions – sonatas, symphonies, and fugues. His paintings blend the senses of hearing and sight, creating a synaesthetic experience for those who view them. While artists like James McNeill Whistler and Paul Signac also used musical terminology in the titles of their paintings, their works were concerned with expressing the emotions and dispositions evoked by musical compositions. In contrast, Čiurlionis, a professionally trained composer, visually showcased the melodies and rhythms, transposing the very structure of music, its intervals and meter, to the painted surfaces.

Among the best-known paintings by Čiurlionis are his pictorial Sonatas – seven polyptychs consisting of two, three, or four paintings, titled to correspond to parts of the sonata cycle in classical music – Allegro, Andante, Scherzo, Finale. The paintings evoke the musical tempo indications in their titles: for example, Andante parts tend to be more static and calmer in comparison to the dynamic Allegro compositions which introduce and develop the main motifs. In lieu of recurring melodies, symbols and whole compositional motifs are repeated across the Sonatas and within the individual paintings, tying the parts together. Čiurlionis was fond of multi-spatial compositions, which effectively function as pictorial equivalents of polyphonous music – the dramatic overlapping planes evoke simultaneous but varying melodies. The passage of time, an allusion to the duration of musical compositions, is often indicated by the inclusion of multiple temporal indicators – suns, moons, and stars – on the same canvas.

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, Ramybė [Serenity], 1904-05, pastel, charcoal on paper, 54 x 74 cm. Source: http://www.ciurlionis.eu

In addition to the multi-planar and multi-temporal aspects of some of his paintings, Čiurlionis also played with multiplicity of interpretations. Ramybė (Serenity), 1904-05, presents a scene which can be understood in two ways – on one hand an island with two coastal lights, on the other – a lurking mythical beast whose eyes reflect on the surface of the water. Although this artwork is not traditionally considered to be one of Čiurlionis’ musical paintings, it still evokes polyphony, the counterpoint of meanings functioning as an analogy to harmonised themes in a musical composition. The two-fold image of Ramybė juxtaposes animate with inanimate, and real with imaginary, creating a mysterious fairy-tale world, in which elements of fantasy and reality coexist in harmony.

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, Laidotuvių Simfonija [Funeral Symphony I], 1903, pastel on paper, 73.6 x 62.8 cm. Source: http://www.ciurlionis.eu

The pictorial scenes created by Čiurlionis seem to transcend the bounds of reality and penetrate beyond the visible, revealing a world of higher consciousness. This metaphysical world combines grandeur, colour, and beauty with dramatic phantasmagorical motifs and questions about human existence. In the surreal space of Laidotuvių Simfonija I (Funeral Symphony I), 1903, silhouettes of city towers mix with mythical crowns and horns, and coffin-bearing human figures merge into a mass at the bottom of the scene. Human life and death are presented as miniscule in the context of a grand, mystical universe.

Giorgio de Chirico, La Tour rouge [The Red Tower], 1913, oil on canvas, 73.5 x 100.5 cm. Source: Peggy Guggenheim Collection, https://www.guggenheim-venice.it/en/art/artists/giorgio-de-chirico/

Some of the paintings by Čiurlionis have been compared to the oeuvre of the Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico, founder of the Scuola Metafista (Metaphysical School) movement. De Chirico’s paintings are imbued with a sense tranquillity and mysticism, showcasing a frozen, timeless world. In de Chirico’s metaphysical world, however, human life does not exist, a reflection of it seen only in strange architectural or sculptural constructions. The silence of the cityscape in paintings like La Tour rouge (The Red Tower), 1913, seems ominous and sinister. In contrast, the universe created by Čiurlionis subsumes humanity rather than excludes it, and eeriness is relieved by the inclusion of playful elements, such as a devil’s face hidden in the tolling bell and archway in Laidotuvių Simfonija I. For Lithuanian audiences, devil signifies not only the Christian Satan, but also Velnias, a figure from Lithuanian polytheistic mythology. Velnias was the spirit of the underworld and guardian of the dead, a benevolent and just figure. To those aware of this mythology the scene carries a certain sense of comfort, quelling the viewers’ anxieties about death.

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, Rex, 1909, tempera on canvas, 147.1 x 133.7 cm. Source: http://www.ciurlionis.eu

Allusions to Lithuanian folk culture and nature are incorporated into numerous compositions by Čiurlionis, both musical and pictorial. Čiurlionis encountered the ideas of the Lithuanian Natonal Revival movement while studying in Warsaw in 1905, and in a letter to his brother proclaimed that he would devote all his former and future works to Lithuania. Even the metaphysical paintings that depict cosmic processes and the workings of the universe are imbued with a certain sense of Lithuanian character. In Rex, 1909, a silhouette of a king sitting on a throne emerges from the interplay of various planes, cleverly referencing folk tales. The divine, all-knowing ruler of the Universe is both subsumed and revealed by the Earth, space, and heavens that surround him.

The art of Čiurlionis is simultaneously universal and nationally-specific – appealing to all with questions of human existence, it remains closely linked to Lithuanian folk traditions and contemporary concerns. The originality of Čiurlionis’ pictorial expression showcased the possibilities of abstraction, surrealism, and metaphysical painting before it took root in Europe, effectively predicting some of the most notable trends in European Modernism. His innovative and unique approach to both musical and pictorial compositions is praised to this day for revealing new artistic prospects. Čiurlionis transcended the bounds and limitations of singular artistic movements by combining a variety of approaches and succeeded in creating new mystical worlds that continue to intrigue viewers.

Notes:

Andrijauskas, Antanas. “Musical Paintings of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and Modernism.” Music in Art 37, no. 1/2 (2012): 249–64. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24420206.

Čiurlionis, Mikalojus Konstantinas, Lionginas Šepetys, Judita Grigienė, and Valerija Čiurlionytė-Karužienė. Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. Vilnius: Vaga, 1977.

Fedotov, Vladimir M. “Polyphony in the Paintings of M. K. C̆iurlionis.” Leonardo 28, no. 1 (1995): 53–56. https://doi.org/10.2307/1576157.

Kato, Ichiro. “Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, the Lithuanian Composer and Painter, and the Correlation between Pictorial and Musical Compositions.” Journal of Baltic Studies 7, no. 1 (1976): 40–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43210734.

Mihalso, Andrew. “M.K. Čiurlionis: A Painter for Eye and Ear.” American Music Teacher 36, no. 4 (1987): 43–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43547291.

Rannit, Aleksis. “TIME IN M. K. ČIURLIONIS.” Journal of Baltic Studies 7, no. 1 (1976): 31–39. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43210733.