Restoration of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis' works

Straipsnyje apžvelgiamos Mikalojaus Konstantino Čiurlionio dailės kūrinių irimo priežastys, dailininko darbų restauravimo istorija. Nacionalinės dailės galerijos Vilniuje atidarymui 2009 m. buvo restauruoti du dailininko kūriniai: Miestas III ir Sonata Nr. 7 (Piramidžių sonata, 1909) Andante dalis. Straipsnyje aprašoma paveikslų būklė prieš restauravimą, technologiniai tyrimai ir restauravimas.The durability of art works largely depends on such factors as the quality of the materials used, the techniques and materials used in its creation, and storage conditions. The art works by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis are in need of restoration firstly because of the poor paper on which the artists painted and poor storage conditions that his paintings were for a long time kept in. A meeting took place at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum 1971 during which a decision was made to immediately initiate the restoration of the artist’s works. From that time on the Pranas Gudynas Centre of Graphic Restoration of the Lithuanian Art Museum restored more than 250 art works of Čiurlionis. For the occasion of the opening of the National Art Gallery in Vilnius in 2009, Čiurlionis’ paintings The City III and Andante, the second part of the Sonata of the Pyramids, were restored. This article describes the condition of those paintings before their restoration and the results of technological investigation. It also describes the restoration processes that were carried out. After restoration, the beauty of The City and the Andante paintings revealed itself. The restoration materials used and the methods applied stabilized the aging process of the paper. Moreover, the thorough technological investigation of the work that was conducted during this process complemented the existing database of technological data of M. K. Čiurlionis’ works