The Medusae (from the Collection entitled "Inhabitants of the Sea")
The Medusae (from the Collection entitled "Inhabitants of the Sea")
The Medusae (from the Collection entitled "Inhabitants of the Sea")

The Medusae (from the Collection entitled "Inhabitants of the Sea")

Author: Stabrowski Kazimierz, 1869 - 1929

Created: 1913.

Material / technique: paper, pastel.

Dimensions: 63x50 cm.

Signature:  K. Stabrowski (in the bottom-right corner of the painting).

The painting depicting the depths of the underwater world is a part of the K. Stabrowski collection of pastel paintings entitled Inhabitants of the Sea. The medusae are swimming in random directions, but all of them are situated at the top and on the left side of the composition. Water bubbles extending throughout the entire length of the right side of the composition serve as a symbolic vertical line between the underwater world and the world outside it. Light curvy strokes express clearness, while the mysterious blue-green colour palette distracts the viewer from the grey dullness by allowing them to see that which people do not always have the opportunity to feast their eyes on. Many a man can only guess and ponder what lies in the depths of the vast waters, just like they can hardly feel their own depths, where the essence and the meaning of being reside. Water and the depths serve as the symbol of spiritual life, which was common in the creations of many symbolists as well as of M. K. Čiurlionis, who was the contemporary, student, and friend of K. Stabrowski.

Reference:  ‘Kazimierz Stabrowski, the Teacher of M. K. Čiurlionis’. Kaunas: M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum, 2016, Kat. Nr. 4, P. 44.

Exhibitions:  ‘Kazimierz Stabrowski, the Teacher of M. K. Čiurlionis’, 2015 September 24 - 2016 January 3, M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum,Kaunas.

Published: Kazimierz Stabrowski, the Teacher of M. K. Čiurlionis’. Kaunas: M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum, 2016, Kat. Nr. 4, P. 44; Antanas Andrijauskas „Reflections of Ideas of Theosophical Philosophy of Art in Painting by Stabrauskas and Čiurlionis“, Lithuanian Culture Research Institute, 2021, Vilnius, P. 129.

Photograph: Kazimierz Stabrowski (1869–1929).