When Estonian artists reached Capri during the beginning of the previous century, the Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe had not yet been printed, nor brought fame to the island. The first of Estonian artists to set foot on the rocks of Capri was Ants Laikmaa, in 1912. National romantic as he was, Laikmaa was charmed by the pristine wildlife of Capri. Ado Vabbe, the young impressionist, was captivated by the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Konrad Mägi was stunned by the cubistic mountains and architecture.
Ado Vabbe’s drawings and paintings reveal the desire of the young artist to step on the promising road of abstractionism. His searches on Capri are carried on by Urmo Raus a hundred years later. On his canvases the Vesuvius emerges across the sea over and over again with the mythical history of the island.
The exhibition of Urmo Raus’s paintings “The Island of Lotus-Eaters, Capri“ is accompanied by the fresh book by the author “Gests in Hesperian“ which reaches the history of Capri beginning with Antiquity. On the 53rd page the author lets us know who were the lotus-eaters and how they erased homesickness of travellers.
