Mark Rothko: A Biography by James E.B. Breslin (1993) — the definitive life of the painter, covering his Daugavpils origins, immigration to America, and the development of his distinctive abstract style. Essential reading before visiting the art centre.
The Bradt Guide to Latvia by Stephen Baister and Chris Patrick — practical and well-researched, with good coverage of Daugavpils and the Latgale region that most guidebooks skip over.
Riga: A Short History by Edmund Griffiths — a compact account of Latvia's capital that also illuminates the broader currents of Latvian history, including the Soviet period that shaped Daugavpils's current character.
Selected Poems by Aleksandrs Čaks — Latvia's most celebrated 20th-century poet, associated with Riga but essential for understanding the Latvian imagination. His streetwise, melancholy verse captures something of the spirit of Latvian urban life between the wars.