From 8 February to 10 August 2025, the 2nd floor right wing of the main building of the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga (Jaņa Rozentāla laukums 1) will host the solo exhibition "Garden of Past Pleasures" by Līga Purmale, dedicated to the artist's fifty-year-long oeuvre, featuring works from photorealism to this year's new works, in the "Generation" series.
Līga Purmale (1948) is an outstanding Latvian painter whose work is characterised by constant formal and thematic development. From an early age, the artist spent a lot of time reading and drawing. Inspired by her mother, Vallija Purmale (who was a drawing teacher at Dundaga Secondary School), Līga began studying at the Janis Rozentāls Riga Art Secondary School (1961-1968) and after secondary school enrolled at the Teodors Zaļkalns Latvian SSR State Art Academy in the Master Workshop of Monumental Painting under Indulis Zariņš (1929-1997) (1969-1975). Already during her studies, the artist made her name loud and clear. In 1974, together with her studio and her spouse, the artist Miervaldis Poli (1948), they organised their first joint exhibition at the Riga Central Print Club in the premises of the Riga Photography Club. Both artists presented their photorealist works to a wider public for the first time, becoming the pioneers of this trend in Latvia.
