„Paintings” – that simple is the title of Aleksejs Naumovs’ exhibition. The artist has not bothered himself thinking about a special title, but this title reveals a lot, especially to those who are interested in painting, are able to perceive and enjoy it, as well as to appreciate the richness of that immensely captivating world. An opinion exists that only well-trained viewers are able to understand art. If you happen to be not so well trained, you should start with prof. Aleksejs Naumovs’ exhibition in order to get familiar with painting. One can remind that Aleksejs Naumovs has studied under good teachers (I.Zariņš, Ed.Kalniņš) and has talent and capacity for work. That’s true, but above all it is his enthusiasm and love of painting. He is fond of traveling, music, opera and theatre, but it seems that he does everything to stir up that world of emotions in him which later finds its expression on canvas. As a northerner he is enticed with southern seas, plays of shadows on the ever-green southern gardens, bridges and buildings – architecture, which is commonly referred to as frozen music. Yes, he is a master of bright, vivid tones, as his canvases are iridescent with the joy of colours. They address and move the viewers. Tone relationships and light-and- shade can be found only in nature, they can hardly be “composed” in the studio. That is a reason why the artist enjoys painting in the plein-air. He does not feel disturbed by the curiosity of passers-by, nor the noise of vehicles, as he is in a world of his own, that of painting. One can envy such people, only, what for? After all they create for us – their viewers. In the exhibition the exciting world of warm seas gets along with Latvia’s magnificent winter. The artist has been carried away with snow. Frost and pearly-toned fog appeared in his paintings in December, 2008, when during the Christmas holiday he flew to Venice to paint. There at -4◦C even the pigments froze, but the viewers regarding his canvases of the misty or snowed-in Venice talked about Brodsky, his “Water Signs” and feeling for Venice in winter. It was Brodsky’s city only in winter without the hordes of tourists. And the city looked the same also in Naumovs’ paintings. But there was another small painting: the snow-clad fields of Latvia with a hut entitled “Vilhelms Purvītis’ Home”. The viewers’ attention was attracted mainly due to the skilful depiction of snow. The artist goes on painting snow, he seems to really enjoy it. And this winter is favourable for painting snow, but Aleksejs Naumovs seems to be the only one to be carried away with it. He might have been thinking of Purvītis, the founder of the Academy, the rector of which he currently is, spending much of his time in Purvītis’ study. In 1920 in his essay “Nature and Art” Vilhelms Purvītis wrote that even the freest artist’s fantasy cannot create anything beyond nature. It was his conviction. And he became the most outstanding painter of melting snow in European painting about a hundred years ago. But the enticement with nature and snow is never-ending. It inspires all those who can paint.