A large retrospective exhibition of works by Zlatko Šulentić

Zagreb’s Art Pavilion is continuing the cycle of posthumous presentations of the most significant artists of Croatian modernism. It is the venue for a large retrospective exhibition of works by Zlatko Šulentić, an undisputed master of the second wave in the Croatian Moderna.

Continuing with an array of large retrospective exhibitions of works by the most significant artists of the Croatian Moderna, Zagreb’s Art Pavilion is presenting yet another important artist from the second Moderna wave; Zlatko Šulentić. The exhibition was opened in April and it will remain open to the general public until the 5th of June.

Forty years after the artist’s death, his works still attract considerable attention despite the fact that he was quite a self-effacing person throughout his life. His life, however, cannot be compared to the great works he created, and which certainly marked the so-called second wave of the Croatian Moderna. The exhibition features a total of 120 works from his entire opus, throughout which he developed his unique and individual style. Unlike his contemporaries – also representatives of the second wave in the Moderna, such as the more radical Milivoj Uzelac – Šulentić’s style remained significantly more poetic, which is why he is considered an anthological painter.

This retrospective exhibition will provide visitors with the opportunity to view his most significant works in one place. The painting titled “Autumn” certainly belongs among them; it was created under the influence of the Munich school in the early period of his creative opus. There is also the famous “Self-portrait”, as well as the “Man with a Red Beard” and “Portrait of Dr. Pelc”, in which Šulentić displays his aptness at expressionism. In the 1920s, Šulentić went through a phase of exploring the plastic style of new realism but, keeping true to his idiosyncrasies, he adapted it to a more characteristic, poetic and ‘soft’ style. “Place du Tetre” originates from that phase, and it was followed by works of the so-called further phase of creativity.

Zlatko Šulentić is one of the most significant successors of Vladimir Becić, Josip Račić, Miroslav Kraljević and Oskar Herman. He studied at the Art Academies in Munich and Paris, and began his artistic development with the emergence of expressionism and cubism in Croatia, before developing his own style. In the later period, he painted predominantly landscapes and cityscapes, as well as sacral works, but he forever remained foremost a portrait painter.