ON 17TH JUNE 1940 LATVIA IS OCCUPIED AND ANNEXED BY THE ARMED FORCES OF THE USSR. THE BOARD OF ART AFFAIRS IS ESTABLISHED HEADED BY HERBERTS LĪKUMS. SUBORDINATE TO THE BOARD IS THE DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL ART HEADED BY RŪDOLFS PINNIS. THIS IS THE ORIGIN OF THE ARTISTS’ UNION OF THE LATVIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC. PREPARATIONS ARE UNDER WAY FOR THE DECADE OF LITERATURE AND ART IN MOSCOW. REPRESSIONS BEGIN CULMINATING IN THE DEPORTATIONS OF 14TH JUNE 1941. THE FIRST YEARS OF SOVIET OCCUPATION DO NOT BRING CHANGES TO THE FORMAL LANGUAGE OF ART.
1ST LATVIAN SSR EXHIBITION OF VISUAL ART. RIGA CITY ART MUSEUM. 5TH JANUARY 1941.
Hilda Vīka
Labourer, peasant, scientist
1940. Oil on canvas. 115×89 (Riga Museum of History and Navigation)
Vilhelms Purvītis
Windy day
1941. Oil on cardboard. 71×102 (Tukums Museum)
Augusts Annuss
Homeward
1940. Oil on canvas. 170×159 (State Museum of Art)
Eduards Karitons
The Winner
Ca. 1940. Location unknown
Pēteris Upītis
Approaching storm
1940. Paper, woodcut. 19×12,3 (Tukums Museum)
Jānis Plēpis
Rainis
1940. Paper, woodcut. 15,3×10,7 (Tukums Museum)
Augusts Pupa
People from the outskirts
1935. Paper, tempera. 29×22,5 (State Museum of Art)
