Mysterious Evening Near Nevėžis

“A landscape for me is a wish and an opportunity to paint a powerful life sensation. Boundless. Infinite. Intransparent. Always uninterruptedly  happening. Happening in the past, present and everlastingly. Happening in the depth and in the air. Renewing continuously. Changing shapes always in the same native place, where I have rooted in.” Gražina Janina Vitartaitė - painter

Painter Gražina VITARTAITĖ (b. 1942) is well-known as a master of unique landscapes, a lyricist of nature, a poet of the elements, virtuoso of illusions. Her abstract, picturesque, full of fantasy impressions reach far beyond the ordinary limitations of the genre and enrich the context of the traditional Lithuanian landscape. By combining principles of traditional painting with a contemporary, conceptual mind, she easily connects realistic and abstract motifs, creating  associative, dynamic visions, which submerge the viewer into an unusual space of experience. In 1980 – 1989 she worked in the State Art Institute (now Academy of Arts), was Head of the Painting Department, earned the position of associate professor and an honoured artist. The painter has held more than 70 personal exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad, her works have been purchased by Lithuanian museums, Russian Art fund, public institutions (Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, etc.) and art galleries, private collections in Lithuania, the USA, various countries in Europe. G. Vitartaitė has published her art albums „Vidinės laisvės link“ („Towards inner freedom“) (2007), „Kuršių Nerija“ („The Curonian Spit“) (2009), „Tapyba“ („Painting“) (2010) , „Peizažo metamorfozės“ („Landscape metamorphoses“) (2015), „Krekenavos regioninis parkas. Tapyba“ („Krekenava regional park. Painting“) (2020 m.).

There is also a documentary film „Vidinės laisvės link“ (2013, dir. A. Tarvydas) and a television show „Menininkų portretai“ („The portaits of artists“) on LRT (Lithuanian radio and television) (2017, dir. V. Beconienė) about the art of  G. Vitartaitė. 

Art critic Gražina Gurnevičiūtė