The Bolivian Government acquired approximately 300 paintings from the artist and distributed them among the most significant national offices. The epic and impressive painting by Rimša. “The Founding of La Paz” (1948), is displayed in the Bolivian capital's Municipal Hall. Several of his works also hang in the Central Bank in La Paz, as well as in the homes of private buyers. Under tumultuous circumstances, he found himself in distant lands, yet he never forgot his homeland of Lithuania and dreamt of returning there one day. In 1938 Rimša sent three of his paintings to the 4th Autumn Art Exhibition in Kaunas. He also donated the finest paintings still in his studio to the then director of the Lithuanian Art Museum, Pranas Gudynas, who was visiting him at the time.

Entertaining his interest in the ancient Inca civilization, he spent much time travelling through Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, where, along the slopes of the Andes, at an altitude of between 500 and 2,500 metres the Yungas highlands stretch almost all the way to the Bolivian capital of La Paz. At the core of Inca culture, the people of Cuzco also left a great impression on the artist, with their worn yet determined faces and colorful, ornamental clothing. The artist also had the opportunity to experience first hand the deep, cultural traditions and language of teh ancient people of the Aymara tribe of South American Indians, who lived in the territory of Bolivia and Peru arround lake Titicaca. The painter, who had arrived from the lowlaying shores of the northern Baltic Sea was captivated and inspired by the exotic nature of the Incan Empire – a landscape of astoundingly high mountains rising from lush, jungle-filled valleys, forests and waterfalls, clouded in mist, as well as its history. The fact that the artist did not turn to abstractism, but learnt to love and respect the Indians, to acknowledge their ancient culture, the history of their land and its natural landscapes, has determined that Bolivians to this day treasure his creative legacy, and have named the artist “ the missionary of art”. Alongside Guzman de Rojas, Rimsa is considered among the most influential Bolivian painters, and one of the best of all of Ibero-America.

Jonas Rimša was born on June 12, 1903 in the township of Svedasai, and grew up in Kaunas. Bowing to the will of his father, he graduated from the best sewing school in Vienna, and afterwards, completely focused on studying art, he went further abroad to search for his destiny elsewhere. In 1931 – 1934 he attended the Buenos Aires Academy of Art (Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes) which was the best institution of its kind in all of South America. In 1943, in the city of Sucre, the artist established an art school and was its director. However, one year later, the government needed to reduce its expenses and the school was forced to close. Unhindered, Rimša selected twenty-one of his most gifted students and established a private art school, the Curso Superior de Bellas Artes, which was in operation until 1951. In the art world, the students of his school became known as “Rimša's Group”. He provided financial support to his students, and personally allocated funds to send more then a handful of talented Bolivian artists to pursue their studies in Europe – Graciela Rodo-Boulanger, Mario Eloy Vargas and Juan Ortega Leyton being among the most famous.

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