The forest roars, cries, and rustles

Author: Žmuidzinavičius Antanas, 1876 - 1966

Created: 1906.

Material / technique: oil on cardboard.

Dimensions: 44 x 38 cm.

Signature: In the bottom-left corner of the painting.

Forest in the early morning. In the foreground there are stumps, felled trees, a man cutting down a tall tree. Further, a sunken forest can be seen in the fog. From the fog rise the figures of an old man and a virgin. 

A. Žmuidzinavičius himself responds to this work as follows: "I remember another painting on the theme of felled forests (1907). He depicted a tall pine forest cut down and human beings crossing a beautiful pine tree in the foreground. Formed from the early morning mist, the spirits of an old man and a virgin in dramatic poses grieve for such barbaric work. That painting was exhibited at the II Lithuanian Art Exhibition in Vilnius and later in Riga, where it was purchased by a local Lithuanian. That painting became very popular in Lithuania. It became popular, I think, not so much because of the artistic value of the painting itself, but because of the reproductions-postcards published by it, where the title of the painting is taken from Maironis' poem "The Forest Is Humming, Crying, Catching...". This, apparently, excited the audience. Many thousands of those postcards have been distributed." (A. Žmuidzinavičius. Palette and life. 1961, p. 392)

Exhibitions: The work was exhibited at the II Lithuanian Art Exhibition; Permanent exhibition at the Museum of Works and Collections of Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art, Kaunas.

Photographs: A photo in which Marija Putvinskaitė takes her personal photo in Paris. Behind her - the painting "The Forest Hums, Cries, Catches", 1906; Permanent exhibition at the Museum of Works and Collections of Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art, Kaunas.