Baltic Breath

"When I paint, I just feel, I don't think. I don't think about what to mix with what, the shades come naturally. And when I feel a certain inspiration, concentration, and I don't look for special motifs, I am intrigued by the idea, the charm of the moment. I try to catch it. In art, as in life, there can be no stopping," says Gražina Vitartaitė about her work.

This spontaneity, naturally accompanied by an expressive touch, is what gives the landscapes of moderate Lithuanian nature their uniqueness, intrigue and drama. She works by the seaside or in her native Krekenava, where nature allows her to get away from the domestic life and feel the greatest freedom, to experience the poetry of nature and to convey it in her work. She loves Lithuanian nature immensely and says that the most important thing for a person is to find harmony with nature. That is why in her paintings, instead of shocking, she invites the viewer to an aesthetic meditation, where the viewer is encouraged to discover his or her intimate relationship with nature by travelling through the artist's free, expressive strokes.

From 1980-1989 she was the head of the Department of Painting at the State Art Institute (now the Academy of Fine Arts), associate professor. The artist has held over 70 solo exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad, her works have been acquired by Lithuanian museums (LDM, NČDM), the Russian Art Foundation, public institutions (the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Government House of the Republic of Lithuania, the Government House of the Republic of Lithuania, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the Baltic House of Rest, etc.), as well as by art galleries and private collections in Lithuania, the United States, and in various European countries. G. Vitartaitė has published painting albums "Towards Inner Freedom" (2007), "The Curonian Spit/ Die Kurische Nehrung.Tapyba/Painting/Malerei" (2010), "Landscape Metamorphosis" (2015), "Gražina Vitartaitė.  Krekenava Regional Park.

A documentary film "Towards Inner Freedom" (2013) (directed by A. Tarvydas) was made about G. Vitartaitė's work, and a television programme "Portraits of Artists" (2017) was produced (LRT, directed by V. Beconienė).