The M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, situated in the very centre of Lithuania, in the city of Kaunas, is one of the oldest and largest museums in the country. It was established in 1921 and is known for a great abundance and diversity of Lithuanian and foreign collections of fine and applied arts. At present, the museum possesses more than half a million of exhibits. The accumulated works of art cover a vast period – from ancient civilisations to the 21st century.

Alongside, the museum also houses not very large but significant collection of artworks created in various Artists’ Colonies throughout Europe: Barbizon, Kronberg, Dachau, Ahrenshoop, Hiddensee, Nida (Nidden), Schwaan, Katwijk and others. It amounts to almost 100 exhibits and the number has tendency to grow, as a research work is continuously in progress.

A great part of the artworks has been donated to the museum by a famous Lithuanian collector and art patron Mykolas Žilinskas (1904–1992). He fled to the West at the outset of Lithuania’s occupation by the Soviets in 1940, and settled in West Berlin. While living in exile, M. Žilinskas had amassed a large and valuable collection of foreign art (1685 pieces), and generously donated it to the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art.

In addition to the donation of M. Žilinskas, the museum also houses paintings by Lithuanian artists: Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, Petras Kalpokas, Olga Dubeneckienė-Kalpokienė, Kajetonas Sklėrius and others, created during the interwar period in the only artists’ colony that existed in Lithuania – Nida (Nidden). Their works also comprise a noteworthy part of the heritage created in this Artists’ Colony.