On January 31, the exhibition “Street Illusions: The City Through the Eyes of Latvian Modernists” opens at the Latvian National Museum of Art, offering a broader view of the relationship between the city, literature, and art in the early decades of the 20th century.
The first half of the 20th century was a time of rapid change in Latvian and European culture. The exhibition “Street Illusions: The City Through the Eyes of Latvian Modernists,” which will take place from January 31 to July 26 in the halls on the 4th and 5th floors of the main building of the Latvian National Museum of Art, presents the experiences of Latvian writers and artists in three important cities – Riga, Berlin, and Paris. They were unhurried observers of the city, documenting modern architecture, traffic movement, advertising, shop windows, sounds, and the rhythm of urban space in texts and images. Visitors to the exhibition will also be able to stroll among the exhibits, feeling the mood of the era and exploring its visual language.
The combination of literature and art in the exhibition highlights the social and cultural changes of that time, showing how Latvian modernists reflected and interpreted the impressions and dynamics of the changing urban environment. The exhibition includes both classic and lesser-known works of art, poetry, original engravings, photographs, and video materials.
