On 26 January in Kvadrat 500 the National Gallery presented for the first time its entire collection of 26 works by artists from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia who, 110 years ago, participated in the Sofia Exhibition of the Lada Society of South Slavic Artists.

In 1906, Sofia gathered together the innovators and classics of four reviving Balkan cultures - the Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian and the Slovenian. Noteworthy representatives of Croatia include Ivan Mestrovich, known as "the Slavic Michelangelo", the realist landscape painters Celestin Medovich and Clement Crnchich, as well as Oton Ivekovich, whose palette approached the colouration found in the work of the Impressionists.

Rihard Jakopich, Ivan Grohar, and Matej Sternen were members of the Sava Club of Slovene Impressionists, created in 1902. The Serbian group is headed by the great realist painter, Djordje Krstich, and representatives of the younger generations such as Marko Murat, Beta and Rista Vukanovich, and Djordje Jovanovich.

"We saw many visitors laugh… With such laughter, the Frankish public too welcomed the first landscapes of the Impressionists." This interesting quotation from an article by the great historian and diplomat, Simeon Radev, reveals the very first acquaintance of our own public with paintings executed in the spirit of the modern styles of the time.

Established in 1904, the Lada Society of South Slavic Artists performed an extremely important mission in building the cultural values of the Balkan peoples mentioned; it changed the fate of Balkan plastic art, opposed many hidebound tendencies and, undoubtedly, wrote one of the most worthy chapters in the history of European cultural co-action, support and spiritual tolerance throughout the twentieth century.

The exhibition can be seen in Kvadrat 500 until March 19, 2017.

Photos courtesy of the National Gallery.

Above: Clement Crnchich /Croatia/ "On Dalmatian bays"

1. Bela Čikoš Sesija /Croatia/ "Chastity", 1906
2. Ivan Grohar /Slovenia/ "Tree"
3. Josef Danilowatz /Serbia/ "Strike", 1906
4. Oton Ivekovich /Croatia/ "In the Pub", 1906