Scorpio 1907

Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis made this artwork called Scorpio using tempera on paper. Looking at the surface, I’m imagining him in the act of painting. I wonder if this image came about tentatively, through trial and error? The tower form is otherworldly, and the palette is restrained - greys, reds, and blues - which gives it a haunting quality. The details like the stars and sea creatures adorning the tower’s base, and the Scorpio symbol floating above, suggest he was thinking about something vast and unknown. The pillars either side feel quite regular, and I wonder if he wanted to create tension between the ordered and the unearthly? It’s not hard to imagine Ciurlionis looking at other Symbolist painters of the time like Gustave Moreau, in an ongoing conversation across time. Ciurlionis seems to say something new in the language of paint.