In short

The Samuel Bak Museum located on Naugarduko Street functions as a division of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. It’s the first museum in the world dedicated solely to the work of this painter.

Talking about the sources of creative inspiration, the artist himself says he imagines himself as a boy standing by a large black sea trying to draw water from it with a small spoon.

According to Samuel Bak, Vilnius holds a special place in his life and has inspired his work.

“My hometown is eternally imprinted in my soul. Vilnius, the Jerusalem of the North, was an important centre of Jewish culture and a source of Litvak pride. Being part of the cultural map of my hometown is extremely important to me,” Bak says.

Brief History

Bak was born in 1933 in Vilnius and organised his first exhibition of drawings at the age of nine. After miraculously surviving the Nazi occupation, he found himself in a displaced persons camp in Germany and later lived in Israel and Western Europe. In 1993, the artist lived in the United States where he continued his path as a creator.