Jonas Rimša | Winter in Bariloche, 1954 | Oil on canvas, 60x69 (76x85)

Sign.: AK J.Rimša

Museum authorship. Works of Jonas Rimša are held in LNDM, NČDM, and Tartle.

This magnificent piece by Jonas Rimša was painted in the Argentine town of Bariloche, located in the Andes, 1km above sea level, where J. Rimša would go to reminisce about Lithuanian winters.

One of the most prominent Lithuanian expatriate artists, Jonas Rimša (1903-1978), set out in search of happiness in 1926 when he traveled to South America, where he wandered, gathering impressions and honing his artistic skills. From 1943, invited by the Bolivian government, J. Rimša lived, worked, and taught art in Sucre, later establishing a private art school in La Paz in 1944. Rimša's prolific artistic legacy comprises over 1000 paintings scattered across the United States, Australia, South America, and Europe. Part of his oeuvre is now housed in the National Art Museum, as well as the M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas. The artist painted figurative compositions, landscapes, portraits, and developed an original watercolor technique. In recognition of his contributions to Bolivian culture, J. Rimša was granted the honorary title of Bolivian Citizen of Merit in 1950. The Bolivian government acquired about 250 of his paintings and entrusted them to the most significant state institutions.