The Master and Aleksandra

On Saturday, 18 April, the Roman Suta and Aleksandra Beļcova Museum, together with five other Riga museums—the Rainis and Aspazija House, the Aleksandrs Čaks Museum, the Ojārs Vācietis Museum, the Jānis Akuraters Museum and the Žanis Lipke Memorial—invites visitors to participate in the International Personality Museums Day initiative “The Unfound and the Found. The Known and the Unknown”. Throughout the day, visitors will have the opportunity to discover various stories about women: their lives and relationships, and their influence and presence in culture and history.

At each museum, throughout the day—at 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00—presentations and talks will explore women’s life stories, interwoven with romance, courage, life’s challenges and creative fulfilment.

The self-confidently exuberant Roman Suta (1896–1944) and the elegantly composed Aleksandra Beļcova (1892–1981) were one of the most striking couples among Latvia’s modernist artists of the 1920s and 1930s.

Their personalities and creative temperaments differed, yet this contrast created a uniquely fruitful tension and mutual inspiration.

Suta and A. Beļcova’s life together experienced waves of mutual closeness and distance, as well as more than one dramatic turn in their relationship; nevertheless, the bond between them never disappeared.

For both Aleksandra and Roman, their greatest passion was always art—a passion that united and challenged them at the same time.

When the couple finally divorced in 1941, Suta was there just a week later, asking Beļcova to become his wife again and even threatening to shoot himself otherwise. They remarried, but soon afterwards he left... Years later, Aleksandra said of Roman: he was an expansive man, but the most interesting person in Riga!

The talks at the museums will take place several times a day, allowing visitors to combine visits to several museums. Prizes will also be awarded to the most active visitors.

Additional information

• Visitors are advised to arrive at the museum approximately 10–15 minutes before the event begins, so that they can use the ticket office and cloakroom services without haste.
• The event takes place in the museum exhibition.
• Please note that public events at the museum are filmed and photographed in order to regularly and purposefully inform the public about the museum’s offerings, work results and current activities. More about the privacy policy.

Accessibility

• The museum is located on the fifth floor of the building. The museum is not accessible to wheelchair users because of the closing mechanism on the lift doors. The lift door opening is 75 cm wide.
• The event will take place with seating provided (with backrests).