Pranas Domšaitis: 8 works

'P. Domšaitis started studying fine art at a time when, alongside Impressionism in Germany, a new art wave was rising -- Expressionism. Graduating from the Königsberg Academy of Art in 1910, P. Domšaitis became an apprentice in the Berlin studio of the East Prussian painter Lovis Corinth.'

'In his landscapes from before World War II, the painter liked to depict the sensation of the "sun shining through the clouds", where expanses of meadows, forests, hills or water are bathed in a soft, scattered light, as in this painting, in which P. Domšaitis created a lyrical image of everyday life on the Curonian Lagoon.'

'Using different colour combinations, shape and line rhythms, P. Domšaitis gave the same theme a new meaning each time.'

'However hundreds of paintings remain in P. Domšaitis' studio in Cape Town -- a long journey to Lithuania awaits them as well.'

'P. Domšaitis started painting the Flight to Egypt compositions under the influence of the events of World War I. They combined the biblical theme, war-ravaged settlements and images of long lines of refugees.'

'The Impressionist stylistics in P. Domšaitis' paintings were replaced by the expressionism that the new art style was known for.'

'Landscapes were a means by which he could express man's existence, and symbolically speak of the universality of being.'

'It is as if P. Domšaitis has captured the exact moment when other-wordly beams of light, a metaphor for the good news, touch Mary, glowing in a halo of light herself. Already early on in his career, art critics had noticed that P. Domšaitis was a person who was living in a world of symbols and stood out for his ability to create poetry using pure painting as his tool.'