An exhibition of the great Croatian aquarellist

An exhibition of works by the great Croatian aquarellist, Slava Raškaj, has been opened at the Klovićevi Dvori gallery. Her magnificent opus made a significant mark on Croatian art at the turn of the 20th century.

An exhibition of works by the great Croatian aquarellist, Slava Raškaj, was opened at the end of May in the Klovićevi Dvori. In a show, organized in memory of the artist on the 120th anniversary of her death, a total of 170 water colors, pastels, oils and drawings, as well as several pieces of applied arts such as plates and pieces of furniture etc., have been displayed at the exhibit.

Slava Raškaj was born in 1877 in Ozalj and, in only 29 years of life, she created an impressive painting opus. She was born deaf-mute but she showed talent for art at an early age. Although she was mostly self-taught, upon completing schooling at the Institute for deaf-mute children in Vienna, her parents sent her to Zagreb to learn the craft of painting. Since there was no Art Academy in Zagreb at the time, she occasionally trained at the atelier of her teacher, Bela Čikoš – Sesija. Closed within her silent world, Slava Raškaj managed to develop her own expression which resulted in some of the most stunning pieces of water color at the turn of the 20th century. Her paintings are often dominated by motifs of nature and landscapes of her native Ozalj where she lived after returning from Zagreb in 1899. Some of those painting include: “A tree in the snow”, “Early spring”, “Spring in Ozalj” and “Winter landscape”. In that phase of her life she also created some of the unforgettable paintings from the “Water-Lilies” series which were inspired by the impression of a picturesque lake at the Botanical Garden in Zagreb. Due to her unique experience, which is expressed in her art, as well as the tragic destiny of the young woman who was in love with her teacher, Slava Raškaj is often referred to as the Ophelia of Croatian art. Toward the end of her life she withdrew into her own world. She suffered from deep depression which caused her father to take her to a mental institution in Stenjevec where she remained until her death in 1906.

The pieces of art displayed in this retrospective exhibition of Slava Raškaj’s work, which is another show in a succession of big art manifestations organized by the Klovićevi Dvori gallery, have been borrowed from other museums and galleries from all over Croatia. There are also some pieces that have never before been publicly exhibited since they belong to various private collections.