The Palace of Gold

When Laima Laučkaitė was researching Symbolism in Lithuanian art and trying to identify what distinguished the work of Stabrowski from the work of Čiurlionis, she defined it as the difference between the teacher and the student, describing the two artists as Symbolists of the first and second generations. According to her, Stabrowski remained faithful to realistic representation, and created romantic allegories which appealed even to conservative viewers and critics (L. Laučkaitė, Vilniaus dailė XX a. pradžioje, Vilnius, 2002, p. 150). His painting The palace of gold is a typical example of Central and East European Symbolism. It intrigues us by showing a parallel between a woman’s nude body and the fanciful shapes of clouds, thereby making literary associations, and opening up vast territories to the imagination. Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė.