Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis is one of those figures who leaves me a little awestruck. Born in the small Lithuanian town of Varėna and trained in Leipzig, he was a composer and painter at once, and is now counted among the early pioneers of abstract art in Europe. He died at just thirty-five, which feels like a theft. What moves me is the sense that he tried to speak music and color in the same language, painting as if composing and composing as if painting. He inhaled the whole fin de siècle atmosphere and burned out fast, and Lithuania's enduring pride in him is entirely deserved.

Name (English)

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis

Name (Japanese)

ミカロユス・チュルリョーニス

Reading

みかろゆす・ちゅるりょーにす

Born

September 22, 1875 – April 10, 1911

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Boar

Origin

Varėna, Lithuania

Occupation

composer / painter / choir director / visual artist

University

University of Music and Theatre Leipzig

• Official sitehttps://ciurlionis.eu
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikalojus%20Konstantinas%20%C4%8Ciurlionis
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9F%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AD%E3%83%A6%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%83%81%E3%83%A5%E3%83%AB%E3%83%AA%E3%83%A7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8B%E3%82%B9
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q297137

Tags

• composer
• painter
• choir director

Last updated

2026-06-24

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.