Explore "Three crosses (White crosses)" a canvas of courage

Jāzeps Grosvalds (1891–1920) was a multi-faceted personality of outstanding talent. He was an aesthete and dandy, in whose arsenal of creative expression visual art harmoniously co-existed with his passion for music and literature.

His carefree life in the most fashionable cities of Europe was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.

In 1915, Jāzeps Grosvalds started painting a cycle of watercolours dedicated to Latvian war refugees. 

Meanwhile in 1916, himself mobilised in the army of the Russian Empire, he transformed his own experiences into depictions of the everyday life of the Latvian riflemen.

In the work Three Crosses everything that is shown points to the horrors of war – the threatening clouds, the destroyed landscape, the hills depicted in a restrained colour scheme and the silhouettes of the riflemen.

The figures in the foreground and the horse harnessed to the cart are as though frozen, momentarily joining together in mourning. 

Their gazes are directed towards the ruins of the building and the three white crosses that stand out against the background of the black sky, heightening the dramatic colour contrasts and reminding of death.

The artist witnessed the everyday life of soldiers at first hand, yet depicted what he saw in poetic rather than literal manner, expressing the poignancy of the era through contemporary visual means.