DOI Artikel:
Siechowicz, Paweł: The key to M. K. Čiurlionis’s synthesis of the Arts
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23935#0066
60
PAWEŁ SIECHOWICZ
1. Mikalojus Konstantinas Ćiurlionis. Fugue. 1908. tempera, paper. 62.2 x 72.6 cm,
Kaunas. Nacionalinis M.K. Ćiurlionio dailés muziejus Phot. A. Baltënas
Firstly, however, I shall acknowledge already existing interprétations beginning with those commonly
accepted and ending with individual proposais. Only then will I présent my own interprétation and make the
argument in its favour using évidence of both artistic and musical kinds.
COMMON INTERPRETATIONS
I will now summarize widely accepted interprétations, which differ slightly from each other. What is
common to ail of them, however, is the tendency to look at painting as if it were a musical score of a fugue.
Such a view implies that the painting should be read chronologically like musical notation from left to right
and top-down. Yet, sińce particular authors differ in their understanding of the musical idea of fugue, their
interprétations also diverge when it comes to the application of musical terms to painting.
The most typical view сап be represented here by words of Dorothée Eberlein: "In drei Ebenen sind
Baume und blaBfarbene UmriBformen aneinandergereiht. Man kônnte die Baume gemàB der Fugentechnik
ais «Dux», die UmriBfonnen ais «Cornes» auffassen. Dièses Geflecht wird dreimal «durchgefùhrt», wobei es
zum SchluB zu einer «Engfùhrung» dieser Bildmotive kommt, die stark vergrôBert («Augmentation») in Er-
scheinung treten. ["On three plains trees and pallid coloured contour forms are juxtaposed. One сап describe
the trees as «Dux» and the contour forms as «Cornes». This intertexture is «conducted» thrice, and while it
comes to an end, the motif of the painting appears in a strong enlargement («augmentation»)]4."
Sharply shaped and densely coloured trees are the first thing that catches the eye. It seems natural to
compare them to the subject of the fugue. As Szerszenowicz notices of the fir tree: "It has all the merits that
the fugue's subject should have: a sharp, generał shape with simultaneous inner dismemberment (sequentially
4 Ibidem, p. 344.
PAWEŁ SIECHOWICZ
1. Mikalojus Konstantinas Ćiurlionis. Fugue. 1908. tempera, paper. 62.2 x 72.6 cm,
Kaunas. Nacionalinis M.K. Ćiurlionio dailés muziejus Phot. A. Baltënas
Firstly, however, I shall acknowledge already existing interprétations beginning with those commonly
accepted and ending with individual proposais. Only then will I présent my own interprétation and make the
argument in its favour using évidence of both artistic and musical kinds.
COMMON INTERPRETATIONS
I will now summarize widely accepted interprétations, which differ slightly from each other. What is
common to ail of them, however, is the tendency to look at painting as if it were a musical score of a fugue.
Such a view implies that the painting should be read chronologically like musical notation from left to right
and top-down. Yet, sińce particular authors differ in their understanding of the musical idea of fugue, their
interprétations also diverge when it comes to the application of musical terms to painting.
The most typical view сап be represented here by words of Dorothée Eberlein: "In drei Ebenen sind
Baume und blaBfarbene UmriBformen aneinandergereiht. Man kônnte die Baume gemàB der Fugentechnik
ais «Dux», die UmriBfonnen ais «Cornes» auffassen. Dièses Geflecht wird dreimal «durchgefùhrt», wobei es
zum SchluB zu einer «Engfùhrung» dieser Bildmotive kommt, die stark vergrôBert («Augmentation») in Er-
scheinung treten. ["On three plains trees and pallid coloured contour forms are juxtaposed. One сап describe
the trees as «Dux» and the contour forms as «Cornes». This intertexture is «conducted» thrice, and while it
comes to an end, the motif of the painting appears in a strong enlargement («augmentation»)]4."
Sharply shaped and densely coloured trees are the first thing that catches the eye. It seems natural to
compare them to the subject of the fugue. As Szerszenowicz notices of the fir tree: "It has all the merits that
the fugue's subject should have: a sharp, generał shape with simultaneous inner dismemberment (sequentially
4 Ibidem, p. 344.