Džemma Skulme's personality played a paramount role in Latvian art development and social life of Latvia in the second half of the 20th century.

[2] Oto, Marta, and Džemma's uncle Uga Skulme were members of the Riga Artists Group who determined the development of art in Latvia in the 1930s.

In her paintings of the second half of 1960s her worldview became more dramatic and she has raised the expressiveness of her work by using large brush or even palette knife for colour application.

In pieces like Marta in Mask (1973), Valentīns Skulme as Richard III (1974), and Dialogue (1975) the artist depicts with spontaneous ease dramatic or heroic images full of life and spirit.

During latest decades Džemma is using naive stylistics of children drawings to create vivid and painterly virtuoso artworks.