Night

Night depicts a figure in a rowed boat that is evocative of the Greek mythological deity Charon, who carried the souls of the dead over the river Styx and into Hades (the Underworld). However, we cannot be genuinely sure because Čiurlionis never explained his paintings. Charon is shown as a white generalized and abstract figure who can be seen steering a boat in the moonlight. This is not a usual depiction of Charon as he is alone. Typically, he is accompanied by many small, sometimes winged figures (souls of the dead) or figures waiting for him on the river bank. The banks of the river are joined together by a bridge, the symbol of the connection between two worlds (of the living and of the dead), between heaven and earth.

The main compositional element of this painting—the old man steering the boat—comes from Arnold Böcklin's famous painting, Isle of the Dead. Böcklin was one of M. K. Čiurlionis’s favorite painters, and when he saw the original painting in Leipzig in 1902 he expressed his disappointment that since the painting was at the beginning of the exhibition, other halls could not offer anything that could live up to Böcklin’s work.

We present today's work thanks to the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art.