Born on June 12, 1957, in Riga, Latvia.
Dace Lielā does not paint landscapes; she paints Nature, everlasting and powerful. Her painting presents an impression of human existence and the eternal flow of Time and engages in a dialogue between Nature and Man. The former is eternal, but the latter is transitory. A man’s life is just a short segment of time in which he is given the possibility to fulfil his ambitions and perceive the eternal things like the sea, mountains, light, green grass, the smell of summer, as well as those things created for eternity by man including architecture, music and art. Paul Sartre once wrote that a man’s body is a mere instrument for the fulfilment of his ambitions. It is the sense of existentialism that fascinates in Dace Lielā’s painting. But most fascinating is the way she achieves spatial depth, vibrations of light and air, and materiality, in a word, everything that is called good painting.
| 2017 | Receives the highest honorary award in Latvia – The Order of the Three Stars. | 2008-2013 | Lecturer at the Drawing Department of the Latvian Academy of Art. |
| 2003 | Master of Art degree, Latvian Academy of Art. | |
| 2001–2003 | Lecturer at the Drawing Department of the Latvian Academy of Art. | |
| 1999–2001 | Teacher at Janis Rozentāls Riga Secondary School of Art. | |
| 1984–1987 | Master studio of Professor Eduards Kalniņs, USSR Academy of Art. | |
| 1983 | Member of the Latvian Artists’ Union. | |
| 1975–1981 | Latvian Academy of Art, Department of Painting. | |
| 1968–1975 | Janis Rozentāls Riga Secondary School of Art, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1980 | Starts participating in exhibitions. |
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 2016 | The Sea, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2015 | Paintings, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2013 | Outside, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2010 | The Exhibition Hall of Cesis, Cesis, Latvia. | |
| 2010 | Paintings, Rietumu Capital Centre, Riga, Latvia | |
| 2009 | Paintings, Theatre House Jūras vārti, Ventspils, Latvia. | |
| 2009 | Paintings, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2007 | Valmiera Local History museum, Valmiera, Latvia. | |
| 2007 | Paintings. The presentation of the catalogue, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia.* | |
| 2005 | Paintings, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2000 | Paintings, Riga Gallery, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1998 | Black, Green and Other Paintings, Riga Gallery, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1998 | Landscape and Small Landscapes, Ivonna Veiherte Gallery, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1998 | Unibanka Branch in Āgenskalns, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1997 | Didactic Paintings, Riga Gallery, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1996 | Paintings, Riga Gallery, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1993 | Riga Gallery, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1992 | Gallery Kolonna, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1986 | In the framework of the 8th Painting Biennial, Koshice, Czechoslovakia.* |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
| 2020 | We Aim to Live, Art Centre Zuzeum, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2015 | The World is Everything that Exists, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2014 | Play, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2014 | This place tells us something, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2011 | Is it that he does not seek the truth, but does want to influence?, Riga Art Space, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2010 | A Draughtsman. Spring’10, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2009 | Winter Solstice, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2009 | Autumn 2009, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2008 | Contemporary Painting of Latvia, MOYA, Vienna, Austria /organized by Gallery Daugava/.* | |
| 2007 | Midsummer Day and the Time After, contemporary painting, sculpture, ceramics, Gallery Daugava, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 2006 | Visions and Reality, exhibition of contemporary Latvian painting, Pulchri Studio, Hague, The Netherlands* | |
| 2004 | Exhibition of works by teachers of the Drawing department of the Latvian Academy of Art, Ģederts Eliass Jelgava City History and Art Museum, Jelgava, Latvia. | |
| 2003 | Women Paint Women, Latvian art exhibition, City History Museum, Gdansk, Poland.* | |
| 2002 | Testimonio de la fe /Testimony of Belief/, Madrid City Museum, Madrid, Spain /organized by Gallery Daugava/.* | |
| 2002 | Witness of the Age, painting collection of the Latvian Artists` Union Museum, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia.* | |
| 2002 | Latvia, Surprising Art from the 20th Century, Zwolle City Museum, Zwolle,The Netherlands.* | |
| 2001 | Metropolis. Riga, Riga Stock Exchange building, Riga, Latvia.* | |
| 2001 | Latvian Art Exhibition, office of the Commissioner on European Union enlargement Gunter Verhoigen, Brussels, Belgium. | |
| 2001 | The Art to Fly, artwork collection of the JSC airBaltic, Museum of Decorative Art and Design, Riga, Latvia.* | |
| 2000 | Baltic Art. Contemporary Paintings and Sculptures, National Arts Club, New York, International Monetary Fund Arts Gallery, Washington, USA.* | |
| 2000 | Social and Personal, 1984-2000, Latvian National Museum of Art exhibition hall Arsenāls, Riga, Latvia. | |
| 1999 | The Joy of Being, State Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia.* | |
| 1998 | Bild Botschaften aus Lettland, Galerie im Airport Hotel, Hamburg, Germany. | |
| 1998 | The 2nd All-Latvian Contemporary Art Exhibition, exhibition hall Latvia, Riga, Latvia* | |
| 1998 | Riga in Contemporary Art – Art Nouveau of Riga, exhibition-competition, Riga Gallery, Riga, Latvia.* |
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia.
Latvian Artists` Union Museum, Riga, Latvia.
Bank of Latvia, Riga, Latvia.
Swedbank, Riga, Latvia.
Ventspils Nafta, Ventspils, Latvia.
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Jane Voorhes Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NY, USA
Poznan Art Museum, Poznan, Poland
*catalogue
