Botticelli 1472

Estonian artist Reiu Tüür describes life in Lithuania as a continuous performance. Sometimes it produces paintings, sometimes it remains just ideas. The former director of Tallinn's Kunstihoone art centre and owner of the private gallery Ark Royal, founder and rector of the independent art academy Academia Grata, has had several exhibitions in Lithuania. 

"It only takes one painting to change a person's mind", he says.

According to the painter, despite certain nuances, the visual culture of Estonia and Lithuania is very similar. He could find an Estonian equivalent in almost every Lithuanian artist. Of course, both sides think they are so special, so specifically Estonian or Lithuanian. 

The artist's work zooms in and explores details of the past - people who no longer exist, lives that we have forgotten, cities that are no longer accessible. You will recognise Vilnius and other European cities, and the motifs of the most famous works by Renaissance masters.

"We can see that cities in different countries are similar. When I paint the Dawn Gate in Vilnius, I also imagine the Morning Gate in Pärnu - both places are shrines and city gates," says Reiu.

R. Tüür is an alumnus of the Estonian Academy of Arts (Printmaking, Class of 1998) and graduated in Art Management from City University London in 2001. Reiu Tüür has been a member of the artists' collective Kursi Koolkond since 1993 and the Estonian Artists' Union since 1994. Over the last few years, Tüür's work has been exhibited in galleries in Vilnius, Kaunas, Tallinn, Riga and Tartu. 

The artist's paintings are part of the collections of Estonian art museums and private art collections of art lovers from Estonia, Austria, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Lithuania. They are exhibited in public spaces in various European cities.