The Old Town of Vilnius

Jonas Čeponis (1926–2003) also belongs to the Lithuanian school of colourist painting. He did not mature as an artist immediately after graduating from the State Institute of Art of the LSSR, but developed his style gradually over the 1960s. His pictures of Vilnius are always based on views of actual locations, but they are strongly transformed. The subject of The Old Town of Vilnius is difficult to recognise at first: it is the view from Lapų (Leaf ) Street. At the top of the picture, the apse of the Church of St Teresa can be seen, with the narrow towers of the Uniate Church and the bell tower of the Church of the Holy Trinity. Their Baroque architectural forms are very simplified. Čeponis’ work stands out from that of other painters by its pronounced Fauvist colouring, which makes it highly emotional. He treated colour freely, painting the walls and the bell tower of the church red. He made the towers yellow and green, and the domes purple and blue, thus making the Old Town effervescent with joyful colours, of which the intensity is reduced slightly by the brownish-green land and sky.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: "Abstraction and Expressionism - Two Traditions of Vilnius Painting", 04 – 31 July 2009, ARKA Gallery, Vilnius; "Jonas Čeponis: a Colourful Glance at the World", 8 April – 22 May 2016, Museum of the Radvilas Palace, Vilnius (curator – Nijolė Nevčesauskienė); “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)
© LATGA, Vilnius 2025

Jonas Čeponis (1926–2003) also belongs to the Lithuanian school of colourist painting. He did not mature as an artist immediately after graduating from the State Institute of Art of the LSSR, but developed his style gradually over the 1960s. His pictures of Vilnius are always based on views of actual locations, but they are strongly transformed. The subject of The Old Town of Vilnius is difficult to recognise at first: it is the view from Lapų (Leaf ) Street. At the top of the picture, the apse of the Church of St Teresa can be seen, with the narrow towers of the Uniate Church and the bell tower of the Church of the Holy Trinity. Their Baroque architectural forms are very simplified. Čeponis’ work stands out from that of other painters by its pronounced Fauvist colouring, which makes it highly emotional. He treated colour freely, painting the walls and the bell tower of the church red. He made the towers yellow and green, and the domes purple and blue, thus making the Old Town effervescent with joyful colours, of which the intensity is reduced slightly by the brownish-green land and sky.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: "Abstraction and Expressionism - Two Traditions of Vilnius Painting", 04 – 31 July 2009, ARKA Gallery, Vilnius; "Jonas Čeponis: a Colourful Glance at the World", 8 April – 22 May 2016, Museum of the Radvilas Palace, Vilnius (curator – Nijolė Nevčesauskienė); “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)
© LATGA, Vilnius 2025