People in Riga knew him as Irbītis – barefoot, with crayons in his pockets and black cardboard under his arm. On 10 October 1944, Voldemārs Irbe, one of Latvia’s most singular pastel painters, was killed in Riga during the Red Army assault when a stray fragment from an anti-aircraft shell struck him. In studios and museums he left behind Riga’s outskirts, market scenes, and Orthodox churches – the city he had painted as a wandering, stubbornly free witness.

Voldemārs Irbe became a Riga legend not only through his art but through his ascetic way of life – barefoot, using homemade crayons and keeping small exhibitions open in his own studio. His death in October 1944 coincided with the Second World War front moving through Riga.