Exhibition Snow Melts. Japanese Art

Spring in Japanese culture brings together the rhythms of nature, the cycles of human life, and an aesthetic way of perceiving the world into a single, symbolically rich experience. It marks the boundary between the old and the new, both in nature and in human life, and thus becomes a significant point of departure for change.

In Japanese aesthetics, spring is associated with an awareness of the transience of beauty. The brief blossoming of cherry trees, plum trees, and other spring flowers is perceived as the culmination of beauty precisely because of its impermanence, encouraging empathy, attentiveness, and a conscious experience of the moment. 

Spring is not only observed in nature, but it is also lived emotionally and collectively. At the same time, spring in Japan is a season of rituals. Traditions such as hanami, seasonal festivals, and religious rites have brought people together in shared spaces and moments for over a thousand years. This collective experience is reflected in both theatre and visual art, where spring functions not merely as a decorative backdrop but as a meaningful principle that shapes imagery, composition, and the viewer’s emotional perception.

The exhibition displays works from the Japanese art collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art – colourful woodblock prints ukiyo-e, lacquerware, and porcelain and ceramic objects, which depict this season so essential to Japan in a variety of ways.