Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (September 10 (September 22, New Style), 1875 in Varėna - March 28 (April 10, New Style), 1911 in Pustelnik near Warsaw) was a Lithuanian painter and composer. During his short life he created about 200 pieces of music and painted about 300 paintings. Most of his paintings are collected in the National Museum of M.K.Čiurlionis, Kaunas, Lithuania. His works have been of profound influence on the modern Lithuanian culture.
In 1878 his family moved to Druskininkai. Čiurlionis studied piano and composition at the Warsaw Conservatoire (1894-1899), later he attended composition lectures at the Leipzig Conservatoire (1901-1902) and studied drawing at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts (1904-1906).
He was one of the initiators and a participant of the First Exhibition of Lithuanian Art that took place in Vilnius in 1907. Soon after this event the Lithuanian Union of Arts was founded, Čiurlionis being one of its 19 members.
His symphonic poems In the Forest and The Sea have been performed only after his death.
Čiurlionis' name has been given to cliffs in the Franz Josef Land, a peak in the Pamir Mountains and asteroid #2420. In 1957 the Lithuanians' community in Chicago opened the Čiurlionis Art Gallery, hosting exhibitions of Lithuanian painters' works. National M.K.Čiurlionis School of Arts was founded in Vilnius in 1945. Čiurlionis String Quartet performs in Lithuania and abroad. Every several years junior performers from Lithuania and neighbouring countries take part in Čiurlionis Competition.