Sketch II for vitrage dyptich "Rex" 1904

Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis made this sketch for a stained glass diptych using what looks like pastel and possibly gouache. I love the way Ciurlionis builds this world from marks. The surface is so worked, layered with these tiny strokes. You can see the process, the building up, the kind of back-and-forth you get when you’re trying to figure something out. The colors, too, are so evocative. That deep blue sky, the pale yellow moon, the earthy browns and greens of the figure and foliage - it’s a dreamlike palette. Look at the texture in the old man’s beard, those wisps of white and blue. It's like he's made of the same stuff as the night sky. It's almost as if he's painting music. Ciurlionis reminds me of other symbolists like Odilon Redon, who also had this way of suggesting rather than stating. Both artists are conjuring a world of imagination and feeling, and embracing the ambiguity that makes art so powerful.