Missing work · information sought
Ilgesys
(Longing)
A missing pastel by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, dated 1908. The official Čiurlionis catalogue records the work as missing. Its later trail leads east, to Chelyabinsk and possibly Moscow around 1920.
Archival reproduction. Source: M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art / ciurlionis.eu.
1875–1911
(Longing)
Pastel on paper
Research notice
Can the trail be continued?
We are seeking any credible reference to the work after 1920: photographs, exhibition labels, inventories, family papers, private collection records, museum files, storage documentation or correspondence from Chelyabinsk, Moscow or elsewhere.
If the original survives in lawful private ownership, confidential acquisition enquiries are also welcome. No purchase figure is being published for this work at present.
What is known
Ilgesys, also recorded under the Lithuanian variant title Ilgėjimos, was created in 1908. The M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art's digital catalogue identifies the work as pastel on paper and lists it among the artist's missing paintings.
The painting was given by Čiurlionis to the Lithuanian writer and cultural figure Ona Pleirytė-Puidienė (Vaidilutė). Historical accounts preserve the gift as a personal episode in their acquaintance; Pleirytė-Puidienė later left the work in Chelyabinsk.
Čiurlionis gives Ilgesys to Ona Pleirytė-Puidienė. Her diary records receiving the work as a gift.
Pleirytė-Puidienė leaves the painting in Chelyabinsk.
Surviving accounts still placed the work in Chelyabinsk or possibly Moscow.
No secure later location has been established. The work remains listed as missing in the official Čiurlionis catalogue.
What the image shows
Two dark hands rise from what appears to be an immeasurable expanse of water or mist. Above them, in the pale grey sky, two barely visible eyes emerge. The image is among Čiurlionis's most psychologically concentrated compositions, turning the idea of longing into an almost elemental landscape.
Sources: M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art digital catalogue, “Ilgesys (Ilgėjimos)” and the museum's list of missing paintings; historical accounts of the work's provenance published by Lithuanian press and research on Ona Pleirytė-Puidienė.
Comments & research notes
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