The highest bid was offered for Hay Racks by Ivan Grohar, which went for EUR 91,000.

Most of the paintings from a private collection were sold to Slovenian buyers. "Expectations were high and Slovenians did not disappoint," Nedir Princival, the auction coordinator at Stadion, told the STA on Saturday.

A total of some 130 works went under the hammer, 100 by Slovenian authors. The highest bid - EUR 91,000 - was submitted by a Slovenian buyer for Hay Racks by Grohar, for which the starting price was set at EUR 50,000.

Although all paintings did not find a new owner, the auction brought in a figure close to EUR 800,000, which is how much the entire collection was valued at, according to Princival.

While the auction attracted great interest and many of the bidders and visitors could not find a seat, the attendance by Slovenian museum was poor, said Princival.

The Modern and National galleries have told the STA before the event that they would not be bidding at the auction because they did not have the funds to acquire new paintings.