After the excursion to Dora Gordine’s house a la studio it suddenly occurred to me that she made a myth of herself and kept it all her life – a myth that is still alive nowadays and keeps people wandering about Dora’ s birth date, nationality, even character. Somewhere we read “Latvian born”, another place indicates “Russian”, yet another “Jewish” and also “Estonian”. So who was she in reality? What we know for sure is that her art was the love of her life and her husband – a patient and intelligent individual as no man without such qualities would withstand a woman doing everything as she wants, being expressive in her every wish and desire, dominant in her life choices, totally demanding and transforming the world around her in line with her own and personal view, not anyone else’s.

A female who came from a town no one knows at times when “men still ruled the world”, conquered the sphere of art and gained respect, acknowledgment and became appreciated and valued for her works. So was she finally the “woman genius” that we so desperately look for in the world of art? The myth, the talent, the secret, the unstoppable desire to create, the rise to acknowledgment… And yet another question remains – would we think of her in the same way if she hadn’t been born a biological female? Would we still say she was incredibly talented if she had been a middle class white male or are we emphasizing her input because nowadays people speak of marginalized women? Would we still think the same if she hadn’t created the aura of imagined stories around herself – are we more drawn to her image or her real value as an artist?

What I found truly inspiring is the confusion mix of Asian and European influences in Dora’s house. Her sculptures remind of Asian gods in various poses and strangely bent arms and legs. Each sculpture is like a god in its own way and one can only wonder how hard it was for the models to spend long time posing like that.

I admire Dora’s stubbornness as without it she wouldn’t have created such a house that still attracts people nowadays. She was a designer – not only of buildings and interior but also of her own life. Her mind seemed to be constantly occupied with ideas and her willpower helped her to make ideas become reality. And she didn’t agree to anything else but the exact perfection of her vision – the windows bringing ideal light in the studio, the sculpture show room, the lift for transporting the ready works upstairs, the incredible view from the upper floor and the terrace as a place where to escape in relaxation after a hard day – the perfect home for an artist – inviting but at the same time secluded from the world. Dora lived and breathed there, her “children” as she called her sculptures never leaving her even when her husband passed away.

And if you truly are an artist whose heart and soul belongs to creation – can you ever settle for anything less than perfection?