Dreams Of Youth

The artist Lilijana Tumaitė was born in 1942. She was born in 1918 in Kaunas. It is worth mentioning that her grandfather, Jonas Tumas, was a book bearer who spent years in solitary confinement in Kresty Prison during the Tsarist era for the Lithuania, and her grandfather's brother was one of the founders of independent Lithuania, the classic of Lithuanian literature Juozas Tumas - Vaižgantas.

A constant interest in literature, music and art was a matter of course in this family. In 1974, she graduated from the Art Academy with a degree in decorative arts as a textile artist. Soon after moving to Vilnius, she worked for a while as a painter at the Aušra Cinema, Litexpo Exhibition Centre, and then as a senior research associate and fund keeper at the Lithuanian Art Museum. Soon enough, textiles were overcome by painting, to which she has remained faithful ever since. She has 17 solo exhibitions to her credit. Not only Lithuanian, but also foreign art lovers have willingly purchased her paintings.

The theme of nature as a mysterious, powerful element has dominated her work in recent years. Nature is full of magical creatures, deities and mysteries. And man is a consistent part of that nature, his relationship with nature is revealed through surreal, dreamlike scenes. Animals appear in the landscapes not only as part of nature, but also as prophets, embodiments of the mystery of nature. The author's gaze on the depicted objects is reverent and almost sacred.