Masterpieces of Slovenian painting from 1848 to 1918 are on show at Vienna's Belvedere Museum in a major exhibition put on in collaboration with the National Gallery of Slovenia.

Titled The World in Colours, the exhibition features 132 paintings and focuses on colour composition as well as dialogue and cultural exchange between Vienna and Ljubljana.

The major theme of the exhibition is the defining characteristic of Slovenian painting, its decorative effect, symbolism, expressive power, and technical application.

Slovenian Impressionists rank prominently, but there are also several works by realist painters Ivana Kobilca and Anton Ažbe, paintings by Jožef Petkovšek, Jurij Šubic, and Ferdo Vesel, Biedermeier artists and landscapes by Anton Karinger.

Complex relationship with Vienna

Vienna had served as the capital for Slovenians for centuries; Slovenian artists and intellectuals studied there until the late 19th century, National Gallery director Barbara Jaki described the context of the show to the Slovenian Press Agency.

Architect Jože Plečnik created his masterpieces in Vienna, and Slovenian literary modernists were shaped there. Artistic destinies were always intertwined, existing in constant dialogue, says Jaki, who co-curated the exhibition with Markus Fellinger from the Belvedere Museum.

The chosen period, framed by the 1848 Spring of Nations and the 1918 dissolution of Austria-Hungary, reflects Slovenia's national awakening and complex relationship with the imperial capital.

The exhibition, focusing on the defining characteristic of Slovenian painting around 1900, highlights Vienna's role in validating Slovenian artists' quality and originality, epitomised by their breakthrough 1904 show at Vienna's Miethke Salon.

From Tominc to Impressionists

Following Jožef Tominc, the outstanding painter from the pre-1848 period, artists such as Jožef Petkovšek and Ivana Kobilca stand out in the second half of the nineteenth century. Kobilca decided to become artist as she visited Vienna at the age of 16.

Around 1900 the group known as the Slovenian Impressionists formed around Rihard Jakopič, Ivan Grohar, Matija Jama, and Matej Sternen. Their style influenced Slovenian art until 1918 and beyond.

The exhibition, which took four years of preparations, highlights the distinctive visual language of Slovenian art. Critics at the 1904 show praised its originality, using terms like melancholic and poetic, and the German-derived Stimmung (mood) to describe its introspective landscapes - Stimmungslandschaft or paysage intime.

The role of colour around 1900 is explored as both decorative and symbolic, with Rihard Jakopič later pushing technical experimentation into expressionist realms, Jaki noted.

Of the 132 paintings displayed, 108 are from Slovenian public and private collections, including 71 from the National Gallery, and 24 come from Austrian collections, both public and private.

Alongside Slovenian artists, the show features Austrian artists such as Tina Blau, Anton Nowak - a Maribor native and co-founder of the Vienna Secession - Carl Moll, Richard Gerstl, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, and Josef Danhauser, as well international artists such as Giovanni Segantini, Vincent van Gogh, and Claude Monet.

High-profile opening

On show until 25 May, the exhibition was launched in the evening on 29 January with a ceremony featuring the presidents of Slovenia and Austria, Nataša Pirc Musar and Alexander Van der Bellen. The pair noted the close relationship and cultural exchange between the two nations.

This is the first major exhibition of Slovenian art abroad involving the National Gallery after 474 works of art were on show at Prague Castle in 2019 and almost 200 works went on display at the Petit Palais gallery in Paris in 2013. Both exhibitions focused on Slovenian Impressionists.

Talking about the background of the latest show, Jaki said that back in 2022 the gallery wanted to acquire a portrait of shipping agent Paolo Preinitsch by painter Jožef Tominc when it came up for sale at the Dorotheum auction house, but the price was too high.

A while later they spotted the painting on the social media of the Belvedere Museum, which included it in its permanent collection. The collection also includes The Field of Rafloče, a 1903 painting by Slovenian Impressionist Ivan Grohar.

The other impulse for discussions on the exhibition to start was when Slovenian Ambassador to Austria Aleksander Geržina visited the National Gallery. He wanted for Slovenian Impressionist art to be showcased in Vienna and he convinced director of the Belvedere Museum Stella Rollig of the importance of such a show.