Res Humanitariae

Works of art that visualise historical events are very specific. The artists who create them are constantly faced with the dilemma of how far they can move from a realistic image in the work, and how to interpret a historical event so that it will be recognisable to the viewer, but at the same time maintain the innovativeness of the form and the pulse of the times. Artists were pushed into this dilemma by the era of Modernism and its principled desire to deny the importance of the storyline and the illustrative image. They had the choice of staying within the framework of conservative realism, or finding a way out. Therefore, this article seeks to reveal the solutions discovered by Modernist artists visualising events in Lithuanian history. The wide period (the 1930s and the 1990s) chosen for the study obliges us to single out the most outstanding examples, which do not adhere to a realistic view and the illustrative presentation of the event.