Still-life with poppies and shells

Red poppies and an occasional pink blossom in a thick glass vase resembling a champagne glass, and shells from exotic seas, suggest at once that this room belonged to a romantic person who was trying to escape from the objects and images determined by daily routine. The poppy, a symbol of sleep and death, and a flower beloved by the Symbolists, like the splendid shell, behind which lurks a mystery hidden in the darkness, has excited minds ever since Renaissance times. The inscription of thanks on the back of the picture could mean that the artist Marian Stefan Kulesza (1878–1943) was going to send it to Warsaw, to an exhibition in the gallery of the local Zachęta society of arts (Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych), but after failing because of the war, he presented it to a dear friend in Vilnius. The picture eventually found its way into the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas after changing owners several times.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album OBJECTS ON SHOW (2017). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Red poppies and an occasional pink blossom in a thick glass vase resembling a champagne glass, and shells from exotic seas, suggest at once that this room belonged to a romantic person who was trying to escape from the objects and images determined by daily routine. The poppy, a symbol of sleep and death, and a flower beloved by the Symbolists, like the splendid shell, behind which lurks a mystery hidden in the darkness, has excited minds ever since Renaissance times. The inscription of thanks on the back of the picture could mean that the artist Marian Stefan Kulesza (1878–1943) was going to send it to Warsaw, to an exhibition in the gallery of the local Zachęta society of arts (Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych), but after failing because of the war, he presented it to a dear friend in Vilnius. The picture eventually found its way into the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas after changing owners several times.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album OBJECTS ON SHOW (2017). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė