We all remember that we have had dreams from childhood till now. You simply do not find any person who has not dreamed a dream during his life time. And apart from medieval manuscripts on interpretation of dreams, Freud’s seminal work lent a high significance to dreams in psychology. In a simple general sense, we dream when we are sleeping or day-dreaming and when the iceberg of the unconscious starts to mount over the conscious. Fantasy, in a very simple definition, is the creative imagination. While we generally think that the borderline between sleep and wakefulness is clear-cut, it is not actually so. The unconscious is always present at work.

It is therefore, the active cooperation between conscious and the unconscious which makes us creative beings.

The art works which are selected especially for this exhibition are in one way or another the outcome of the dreams and fantasy of artists from different cultures. While they are all different from each other in terms of subjects and even techniques, they all tell the dreams or daydreams of the artists. By viewing the works of each individual artist, you enter a separate world of dream and fantasy, as if you enter a new world “Through the Looking Glass”.
About the museum:
Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Museum is a multi-functional contemporary art and culture centre located in the Artillery Arsenal building (1833) of the Daugavpils Fortress. This is a place where history goes hand in hand with the contemporary and creates a unique and inspiring place for creative expression and experience. The Art Museum offers exhibitions dedicated to Mark Rothko’s artwork and biography, and other exhibitions, including artwork of international, national artists and cultural history.

Mark Rothko (born Marcus Rothkowitz (1903-1970) was the fourth child of a Dvinsk pharmacist Jacob Rothkowitz. Rothko became an outstanding painter of the 20th century, the founder of abstract expressionism. He never stopped identifying himself with Russian culture and feeling his inextricable internal connection with his birthplace even being the rest of his life very far from it.

Exhibition: Worlds of Dream and Fantasy
An International Group Exhibition at Mark Rothko Art Museum, Latvia
Duration: 17 November 2016 – 31 January 2017