National Art Museum opens centenary exhibition for Latvian émigré painter Raimonds Staprāns

The Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMM) is presenting the exhibition "Raimonds Staprāns. Architecture of Silence" on its fourth floor from August 14 through January 17, 2027, marking the centenary of Latvian émigré playwright and painter Raimonds Staprāns (1926–2026).

The show brings together works never before seen in Latvia, spanning from his earliest paintings in the 1950s to pieces created in the 2000s. In spring 2025, curator Elita Ansone selected works for the exhibition at the artist's studio in San Francisco, assembling a collection that traces how his distinctive painting style evolved over seven decades. Although Staprāns came of age during the height of abstract expressionism, he remained drawn to figurative landscapes and still lifes, placing him within the Bay Area painting tradition in California.

Commemorative events and memoirs

At the exhibition's opening on August 13, Staprāns' memoirs, titled "46 Episodes With and Without Irony," were also launched. The book's literary editor, Dr. art. Ieva Struka, has long been closely connected to the artist's creative legacy. The memoirs draw on his personal recollections of Latvia's independence era, the émigré Latvian community, and his early visits to Latvia after it regained independence. A documentary film about the artist by Pēteris Krilovs, titled "The Red Barn," is also expected to premiere in October.

A second exhibition at the museum

Until November 1, the museum's second-floor left wing is also hosting "Contemporary Drawing: The Florence and Daniel Guerlain Donation to the Centre Pompidou," a joint project between LNMM and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The show features 98 drawings by 43 artists, created between the 1970s and 2019, selected from a donation of nearly 1,200 works given to the Pompidou by collectors Florence and Daniel Guerlain.