Užupis. Observing the roofs
3.500 €
The work titled "Užupis. Stebint stogus" (Užupis. Observing the Roofs), executed between 2010 and 2011 by the eminent Lithuanian master Saulius Kruopis (Šiauliai, 1960), constitutes a major oil on canvas painting of medium-large format (95 x 74 cm), firmly rooted in Baltic expressionist neo-figurativism and the architectural synthesis landscape painting of the artist's mature period, being signed in the lower left corner of the obverse and fully authenticated, titled, and dated in the artist's own hand on the reverse of the canvas, highlighting a technical execution characterized by a dense impasto applied with a palette knife and vigorous gestural brushwork that provides tactile relief and a strikingly dynamic luminous vibration; the composition presents an elevated view over the iconic and historic bohemian republic of Užupis in Vilnius, casting into the background the Gothic spires and red-brick structures of St. Anne's Church and the Bernardine complex, featuring a masterly structuring of pictorial space articulated through a highly saturated color palette where the vermilions, miniums, and earthy ochres of the rooftops and facades contrast with the deep greens of the vegetation and the cool chromatic range of skies rendered in cobalt blues, Naples yellows, and dynamic grays, revealing clear stylistic influences from German Expressionism of the Die Brücke group (particularly Erich Heckel and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner), Fauvism in the arbitrary treatment of color, and the synthetic tradition of the historic 1930s Lithuanian "Ars" group, elements that solidify Kruopis —founder and director of the acclaimed "Nidos Ekspresija" International Painting Plein Air— as a key figure in contemporary Lithuanian art, whose oeuvre holds a strong institutional and museum presence in top-tier public collections such as the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius, the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas, the Šiauliai City Museum, the History Museum of Lithuania Minor in Klaipėda, and the National Art Gallery of Lithuania, as well as in the holdings of embassies, city halls, and international private collections across Germany, Poland, India, and the Baltic states.
TechniqueOleo sobre tela
Dimensions95x74cm
Year2010-2011
ArtistKRUOPIS, Saulius
KRUOPIS, Saulius
Saulius Kruopis (born February 19, 1960, in Šiauliai, Lithuania) is a prominent Lithuanian painter, photographer, cultural promoter, and master artist, trained between 1975 and 1980 at the Kaunas School of Art and subsequently between 1987 and 1993 at the Vilnius Academy of Arts (where he studied painting under the tutelage of renowned professors such as L. Tuleikis, V. Gečas, and A. Šaltenis), whose artistic trajectory falls within Lithuanian neo-figurative expressionism, lyrical plein-air landscape painting, having founded and led since 1995 the famous Nida International Painting Plein Air "Nidos Ekspresija" on the Curonian Spit, which revived the historical tradition of the 19th-century Nida artists' colony, thus distinguishing his style through a bold and saturated use of color, gestural impasto brushstrokes, and a mastery of natural light over seascapes, dunes, and traditional architecture, drawing stylistic influence from German Expressionism (the Die Brücke group), the 1930s Lithuanian expressionists of the "Ars" group, Fauvism, and Baltic Symbolist landscape art, with his work represented in major public collections and institutions such as the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius, the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas, the Šiauliai City Museum, the History Museum of Lithuania Minor in Klaipėda, the National Art Gallery of Lithuania, as well as in the collections of city halls, embassies, and cultural foundations across countries including Germany, Denmark, India, Armenia, Nepal, Georgia, and Poland.
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