Audra
(Storm)

Six paintings by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. The complete cycle is listed as missing in the current Čiurlionis digital catalogue. We are attempting to reconstruct its later provenance and determine whether any of the original works survive in an institutional or private collection.

Composite of the six known archival reproductions from M. K. Čiurlionis's Audra cycle — Composite reference image of the six known archival reproductions of *Audra*.
Archival reproduction. Source: M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art / ciurlionis.eu.

ArtistM. K. Čiurlionis
1875–1911

CycleSix paintings

Date1904

StatusPresent whereabouts unknown

Priority acquisition

Up to €200,000

Up to €200,000 is available for acquisition of the complete original Audra cycle. If an individual original panel survives, acquisition can be discussed separately.

Any transaction would be subject to expert authentication, documented provenance and clear lawful title. Information is equally welcome where acquisition is not possible.

The offer is made for original works only, not reproductions, later copies or photographic material.

Research notice

Have you seen any of these works?

We are seeking credible information about the original six paintings: museum or archive references, inventory numbers, collection photographs, labels, exhibition records, correspondence, or private-family documentation. Even a fragmentary lead may help reconnect the provenance.

This is primarily a location and information search. If one of the works is held privately and lawful ownership can be established, confidential acquisition enquiries may also be considered.

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What is known

The official M. K. Čiurlionis digital catalogue describes Audra as a missing six-painting cycle and dates it to 1904. The cycle was first exhibited that year at the Warsaw School of Art. The same catalogue states that it once belonged to the Warsaw art school and that its present location is unknown.

Stasys Čiurlionis later recalled that before the artist handed the cycle to the school, he made a repetition or copy of it. A painting titled Audra now held by the Lithuanian National Museum of Art has been suggested as possibly belonging to that repeated version, rather than to the missing original sequence.

The lost cycle can still be studied because its imagery survived photographically. The current catalogue states that the sequence has been reconstructed from surviving negatives by photographer Aleksandras Jurašaitis (1859–1915) and from the recollections of contemporaries. Scholarly research on Čiurlionis photography likewise notes that the cycle disappeared in Warsaw and is known from Jurašaitis's photographic negatives.

No public record currently establishes where the original six paintings went after their Warsaw period. That is the question this research file is intended to pursue.

Sources: M. K. Čiurlionis digital catalogue, “Storm. Cycle of 6 paintings” and “Missing paintings”; research on Aleksandras Jurašaitis and the photographic documentation of Čiurlionis's lost works. The current museum catalogue dates the cycle to 1904; some older cataloguing has used 1905.

The six works

The six photographs below are arranged in the sequence used by the current Čiurlionis digital catalogue. Click any image to open the archival reproduction at full size.