This volume of Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis presents papers focusing on social, historical, ideological and inter-personal contexts of art. Lithuanian and Estonian scholars discuss works of art as products of visual culture reflecting the author’s intentions and limiting points of view, rules and prohibitions imposed by institutions or power structures, technical possibilities, ideologies, needs, identities, etc. They show how artworks are part of important discourses of their time by reinforcing or, on the contrary, questioning existing social, ideological and economic structures and ‘having their say’ on the issues of faith, class, gender, violence, politics, etc. The importance of those statements has affected the circulation of visual phenomena in the society and their duration in time.