Izstāde “Atraitnītes” muzejā “Rīgas Jūgendstila centrs”

During the lush summer blooming period, the museum “Rīgas Jūgendstila centrs” invites visitors to view the exhibition “Pansies”. It is dedicated to one of Europe's most charming and symbolic flowers and introduces the diverse representations of the pansy flower in art and everyday objects. The pansy flower can be found in interior objects, dishes, postcards, and even clothing. The exhibition features a wide range of objects from more than twenty Latvian museums, as well as private collections. The exhibition will be on view from June 13 to September 13.

The items with the pansy flower motif on display in the exhibition were created from the 18th century to the present day, but those created during the Art Nouveau period will be featured most widely. Among the wide range of exhibition objects, a plate with an elegant pansy decal, which was once used in the restaurant of the Riga Railway Station, stands out, as well as cylinder-shaped vases crafted by one of the most prominent French Art Nouveau glass artists and manufacturers, François-Théodore Legras. The collection of the museum “Rīgas Jūgendstila centrs” also preserves a handicraft box with embroidered pansy flowers, which was used by a female resident of Riga in the early 20th century.

The pansy is a symbol of love, loyalty, memories, and reflection in many European countries. In Roman mythology, it is associated with Cupid, whose arrow hit the flower instead of a person, and thus it acquired its colors. In Christianity, pansies are associated with the Holy Trinity. In art, the pansy is often depicted in botanical illustrations, watercolors, and flower paintings from the Middle Ages to the present day. In Great Britain, the pansy gained special status during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I: the queen loved it very much, and both her garments and gifts embroidered by herself were decorated with it. W. Shakespeare also mentions the pansy in his plays “Hamlet” and “A Midsummer Night's Dream”. However, the pansy gained true popularity in European gardens and parks much later – in the second half of the 19th century, not losing it even today.

The exhibition features objects from the collection of the museum “Rīgas Jūgendstila centrs”, as well as from the Ģederts Eliass Jelgava Museum of History and Art, Gulbene Region History and Art Museum, Jurmala Museum, Kraslava Region Museum, The Ethnographic Open-Air Museum of Latvia, The Latvian War Museum, the National History Museum of Latvia, the Art Museum “Rīgas Birža”, Limbazi Museum, Madona Museum of Local History and Art, Pauls Stradiņš Medicine History Museum, Preili History and Applied Arts Museum, Riga Porcelain Museum, Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation, Rundāle Palace Museum, Tukums Museum, Valka Local Lore Museum, Valmiera Museum, Žanis Lipke Memorial, as well as from several private collections.

The exhibition “Pansies” at the museum “Rīgas Jūgendstila centrs” can be viewed from June 13 to September 13, 2026. The museum is open from 10.00 to 18.00 every day except Mondays.