MEDITATIVE SOUNDSCAPES OF ČIURLIONIS' SONATIC ARTWORKS

It is impossible to assign Čiurlionis’ art to a specific category of art, its stylistic development was so sudden, the universalistic tendencies of creative expression were so strong that any framing of it is doomed to failure. However, his universality and holistic tendencies of a creative powers allow us to look at his works not from the usual classification perspective, but in a general human empathic way. In other words, looking at the works as if not from the outside, but from the inside, we hear a language that has been developed for many centuries by various spiritual traditions, including East Asian art traditions. Čiurlionis depicted not the real world, but the imagination, the style typical to the masters of landscape painting in East Asia, where the inner reality is depicted first. Penetrating the spaces depicted in Čiurlionis’ sonata works, it becomes clear that it is possible to depict them so naturally and vividly only by acquiring them. Manifested states of essential fullness, which are induced to the viewer, without even requiring any voluntary effort. Thus, the research takes place here as if empathetically acquiring and meditatively experiencing their authenticity. In the article, we will discuss the painting techniques and styles used in Čiurlionis’ Spring Sonata that resonate with the aesthetic and spiritual aspects of the Zen tradition developed in Japan and China.