About Martinsons House

Martinsons House, Rothko Museum’s dedicated exhibition space for ceramic art, presents more than 500 works by Pēteris Martinsons, created between 1963 and 2013 using a wide range of ceramic techniques and materials. These works were produced in several Latvian cities and in ceramic studios abroad, including Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, the United States, China and Egypt.

Alongside the permanent display, the exhibition gallery at Martinsons House also hosts temporary ceramic art exhibitions. The open storage area presents works from the Rothko Museum ceramics collection.

Martinsons House is located in the former gunpowder magazine of the seventh bastion of Dinaburg Fortress, built in 1860. Following extensive renovation and adaptation for museum use, the building was officially opened on 22 April 2022 in the presence of cultural sector representatives, Daugavpils municipal officials, and members of Pēteris Martinsons’ family, as well as his contemporaries, students and admirers.

The Idea Behind Martinsons House

The idea of transforming the historic gunpowder magazine into an exhibition space and open storage facility dedicated to the artistic legacy of ceramic artist Pēteris Martinsons emerged in 2013, following his death. The concept of a house symbolically reflected the artist’s longing for a sense of home – something he never fully experienced because of his active creative and professional life.

The extensive retrospective collection donated by the artist to Rothko Museum (then the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre) was subsequently enriched by donations from the Martinsons family and the artist’s contemporaries, as well as acquisitions made by the museum. Together, these works formed the foundation of the new cultural space, offering a comprehensive insight into the artistic practice and remarkable talent of the internationally acclaimed ceramic artist.

Pēteris Martinsons

Pēteris Martinsons (1931–2013) was born in Daugavpils and is widely recognised as Latvia’s most internationally renowned ceramic artist. His outstanding achievements brought considerable recognition to Latvian art and culture, while his artistic practice profoundly influenced the development of contemporary ceramics in Latvia, helping to establish new creative directions and standards.

As a member of the Ķīpsala group of ceramic artists and a long-standing participant and leader of the Dzintari creative symposia, Martinsons made a fundamental contribution to two important cultural movements in Latvia. Both helped transform ceramics from a predominantly applied craft into an independent artistic medium, inspiring generations of ceramic artists in Latvia and abroad.

Following his most extensive retrospective exhibition in 2013, Pēteris Martinsons donated a substantial part of his collection to the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre (now Rothko Museum).

The collection includes the artist’s earliest hand-built and wheel-thrown pieces, reliefs depicting literary characters, monumental figures, a range of functional and stylised vessels, delicate porcelain works, representations of animals such as crows, lions and dogs, architectural structures including towers and cages, various other sculptural forms, and numerous sketches.

Martinsons’ ceramic works are distinguished by their diversity of ideas and artistic expression, as well as the variety of materials, techniques and locations involved in their creation. His ink drawings, meanwhile, are striking examples of artistic meditation and exercises in the coordination of hand and thought.