A retrospective exhibition of Bela Čikoš Sesia

The Art Pavilion has started this year with yet another great exhibition – a retrospective of works by Bela Čikoš Sesia, one of the pioneers of Croatian modern art.

Until 11th March, the Art Pavilion in Zagreb will be the venue of a retrospective exhibition of works by Bela Čikoš Sesia (1864-1931), yet another in the string of retrospectives aimed at valorising the work of the greatest names in Croatian modern art.

Having received his artistic education in Vienna and Munich, Bela Čikoš Sesia spent some time in the area of Naples in Italy, where he honed his artistic personality and skills. Although he modified his artistic expression quite often, experts consider him the pioneer of modernism and symbolism in Croatian painting. Landscapes, portraits, mythological and literature motifs represent just a small part of his large opus. He passed his artistic inspiration onto younger generations at what is today’s Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, an institution he helped to establish. At the Croatian Salon, 1898, which inaugurated the Art Pavilion, Bela Čikoš Sesia (along with another great, Vlaho Bukovac) showed the greatest number of pictures

The exhibition visitors will be able to see over 150 works by Čikoš spanning the different periods of his life and creative work. They have been borrowed from various Croatian museums, galleries and private collections. Among them are also the paintings from the celebrated Gold Hall of the palace in Opatička Street in the Upper Town, as well as a substantial number of paintings which have never been exhibited before.