Croatia: The Local Talent

Continuing my series of great ‘regional’ painters (previous ones were Holland, California, Italy, and Russia), here are a few great painters from Croatia.

Vlaho Bukovac

Bukovac was born in a small town on the coast south of Dubrovnik to an Italian father and Croatian mother. He studied in Paris with Cabanel and worked in Zagreb, Belgrade and Prague. His life story is quite interesting and included a stint in a reform school in New York and painting trains in Peru (more here).

While famous for his large Salon-style pieces and portraits, he also painted a lot of beautiful plein air sketches.

Gundulićev San (Gundulic's Dream). 1897

Gundulićev San (Gundulic’s Dream). 1897

Baron Ljudevit Vranyczany. 1898

Baron Ljudevit Vranyczany. 1898

Courtyard in Cavtat. 1899

Courtyard in Cavtat. 1899

This nude reminded me of his teacher’s famous painting:

Reclining Nude. c. 1900

Reclining Nude. c. 1900

Alexandre Cabanel. The Birth of Venus, 1864

Alexandre Cabanel. The Birth of Venus, 1864


Miroslav Kraljević
was only 27 when he died of tuberculosis. He studied in Munich and Vienna. (He kinda looks like Valdemar Lethin).

Self-portrait with Dog. 1910

Self-portrait with Dog. 1910

Unfortunately the above image quality is rather poor. Below is a great detail of the dog from Croatian painter Valentino Radman’s blog:

Self-portrait with Dog (detail).

Self-portrait with Dog (detail).

Josip Račić also died very young, only 23, but is considered one of the most important modern Croatian painters. He was part of the ‘Munich School’ with Kraljević and a couple of others.

Self Portrait. 1906

Self Portrait (detail). 1906

Portrait of the Artist's Sister. 1907

Portrait of the Artist’s Sister. 1907

Pont des Arts. 1900

Pont des Arts. 1900

Another good 20th century painter who’s work is in the museum here in Zagreb, but is hard to find online, is Vladimir Filakovac. Valentino Radman has a couple of blog posts on him here and here.

Other interesting historic Croatian painters are Čikoš SesijaRobert Auer, Mato Celestin Medović, and Mirko Rački.