In the sunlight

Marjan Franciszek Słonecki painted the old Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės in Vilnius. A high horizon opens up the vast enclosed space of the cemetery, and the scattered snow-covered tops of gravestones stick out rhythmically from underneath the snow. The work is done in a light Impressionist style, with winter effects, colourful snow, the brown sunlit tops of the gravestones and their blue shadows, a golden sky, and snow-covered vegetation in the foreground. The wooden houses of the Šnipiškės area, with smoke rising from their chimneys, break the horizon, and the domes of the Orthodox Church of St Michael the Archangel shine in the distance. This picture, like all Impressionist works, was inspired by nature, but Słonecki created a record of the architectural heritage too: on the left he painted the Church of St Teresa, which was pulled down in the middle of the 19th century. The Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės was razed by the Soviet authorities after the Second World War.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė) "Vilnius Time", 5 June 2023 – 1 May 2024, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curators Ieva Burbaitė and Emilija Vanagaitė.

Marjan Franciszek Słonecki painted the old Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės in Vilnius. A high horizon opens up the vast enclosed space of the cemetery, and the scattered snow-covered tops of gravestones stick out rhythmically from underneath the snow. The work is done in a light Impressionist style, with winter effects, colourful snow, the brown sunlit tops of the gravestones and their blue shadows, a golden sky, and snow-covered vegetation in the foreground. The wooden houses of the Šnipiškės area, with smoke rising from their chimneys, break the horizon, and the domes of the Orthodox Church of St Michael the Archangel shine in the distance. This picture, like all Impressionist works, was inspired by nature, but Słonecki created a record of the architectural heritage too: on the left he painted the Church of St Teresa, which was pulled down in the middle of the 19th century. The Jewish cemetery in Šnipiškės was razed by the Soviet authorities after the Second World War.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė) "Vilnius Time", 5 June 2023 – 1 May 2024, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curators Ieva Burbaitė and Emilija Vanagaitė.