Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (September 22 [O.S. September 10] 1875 in Varėna—April 10 [O.S. March 28] 1911 in Pustelnik near Warsaw) was a Lithuanian painter and composer. During his short life he created about 200 pieces of music and painted about 300 paintings. Most of his paintings are collected in the National Museum of M. K. Čiurlionis, Kaunas, Lithuania. His works have had a profound influence on modern Lithuanian culture.

Čiurlionis was the oldest of nine children of his father, Constantine, and his mother, Adele. In 1878 his family moved to Druskininkai, where his father became town organist. Čiurlionis studied piano and composition at the Warsaw Conservatory (1894-1899). Later he attended composition lectures at the Leipzig Conservatory (1901-1902), and studied drawing at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts (1904-1906).

He was one of the initiators and a participant of the First Exhibition of Lithuanian Art that took place in Vilnius in 1907. Soon after this event the Lithuanian Union of Arts was founded, Čiurlionis being one of its founding nineteen members.

His symphonic poems In the Forest (Miške) and The Sea (Jūra) were performed only posthumously.

Čiurlionis' name has been given to cliffs in the Franz Josef Land, a peak in the Pamir Mountains and asteroid #2420. In 1957 the Lithuanian community in Chicago, opened the Čiurlionis Art Gallery, hosting exhibitions of the Lithuanian painters' works. The National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts was founded in Vilnius in 1945. The Čiurlionis String Quartet performs in Lithuania and abroad. Every several years junior performers from Lithuania and neighbouring countries take part in The Čiurlionis Competition.

Čiurlionis is buried in Vilnius, Lithuania. The most of the paintings can be seen in M. K. Čiurlionis musseum, Kaunas.

External links

• Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis
• Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis

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