Oil painting on stretched canvas, 50 x 70 cm painted in 2025. by artist Mārtiņš Virsis. 

The painting is heavily inspired by the natural lifecycle in the wild where predators hunt animals for survival, especially in the harsh northern conditions where wolves are frequently found. The artist’s home country – Latvia – happens to have both deer and wolves living in the wild, and during early morning rides with a bicycle, the artist has managed to take many pictures of these pack animals. 

A great influence on the artist has also been his father’s hunting stories, so he grew up with understanding the need for hunting in the world, where due to human activity, some species have been displaced from their natural habitats creating a disbalance. 

Images taken by the artist as inspiration for “The Chase”:

The Chase, similarly to other artist’s paintings starts with a charcoal sketch. It allows quick and exact sketch creation and highlighting special parts early (like main shadows, fur direction, grass direction and so on). Charcoal later in the process is covered under a layer of oil paint, completely hiding it.

Painting has been featured in the travelling exhibition “Fragments of Imagination” in:

• Ogre Kulturas Centrs (2026 March – April)
• Stāmerienas castle (2026 May – autumn)