THE LINKS BETWEEN COLOUR, COMPOSITION, AND REPRESENTATIONAL CONTENT IN ČIURLIONIS' PAINTING: A PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW

The author of the article, focusing on the musicality – the special and inimita- ble musical character – of visual expression that is the hallmark of Čiurlionis’ genius, analyses the links between colour, composition, and representational content in Čiurlionis’ paintings. Drawing attention to functional interrelations between those three elements, it is argued that they are treated by Čiurlionis not for the sake of their own – not as ends in themselves and not for the sheer joy of artistic engagement with colour, composition, and representational content, but as a means to create a certain abstract mood which is very similar to the kind of mood evoked by a musical composition. If this is the case, as it seems to be, Čiurlionis’ paintings function not as conventional works of visual arts, but in a way that is similar to musical compositions, especially those that are composed in sonata form. The musicality of Čiurlionis’ paintings and the importance of mood in their creation and perception reveals that those paint- ings function not as conventional works of visual art but as tools – or abstract visual blueprints – of meditation and visionary dreaming. To put it another way, those paintings serve as windows to the realm of transcendence.