Jonas Rimša By the River (Washerwomen), c. 1950

Sign.: LL J. Rimša

What do you think makes Jonas Rimša's watercolors so striking that it is sometimes hard to look away?

The answer lies in the technique. Rimša was not only a painter but also a tireless experimenter: he read books on painting technology, tested and searched. In the 1930s he began mixing watercolor with oil paint. This brought to paper what pure watercolor cannot give: rich, glowing colour and a grainy, almost velvety surface.

Museum author. Works are held in LNDM, NČDM, Tartle.

One of the most prominent Lithuanian emigrant artists, Jonas Rimša (1903-1978), in search of happiness, ventured to South America in 1926, after which he wandered, gathering impressions and refining his artistic creativity. From 1943, invited by the Bolivian government, J. Rimša lived, created, and worked in Sucre, and later in 1944, he founded a private art school in La Paz. Rimša's abundant creative legacy includes more than 1000 paintings (scattered across the USA, Australia, South America, and Europe). Part of his works is currently preserved in the National Art Museum, the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum in Kaunas. The artist painted figurative compositions, landscapes, portraits, and created an original watercolor technique. For his contributions to Bolivian culture, J. Rimša was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Bolivia (1950). The Bolivian government acquired about 250 of his paintings and donated them to the most important state institutions.