National Gallery of Slovenia
Encyclopedia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. It is located in the capital Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
.
The Slovenian National Gallery was founded in 1918, after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was a short-lived state formed from the southernmost parts of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy after its dissolution at the end of the World War I by the resident population of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs...
. Initially, it was hosted in the Kresija Palace
Kresija Palace
The Kresija Palace is a building in central Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.Located on the banks of the Ljubljanica River around the Triple Bridge, the building is noted for its Neobaroque and Neo-rococo style and structure. It was built after the Ljubljana earthquake in 1895 to house the...
of Ljubljana, but moved to the present location in 1919.
The building
The present building was built in 1896, during the administration of Mayor Ivan HribarIvan Hribar
Ivan Hribar was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. At the turn of the century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the most important figures of Slovene liberal nationalism...
, whose ambition was to transform Ljubljana into a representative capital of all the Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe. It more or less corresponds to modern Slovenia and the adjacent territories in Italy, Austria and Hungary in which autochthonous Slovene minorities live.-...
. It was designed by the Czech
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
architect František Škabrout and was first used as a Slovenian cultural center
Cultural center
A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run...
(Narodni dom) as the central seat of various cultural associations of national importance. The building stands near Tivoli Park.
In the early 1990s, an extension to the main building was built by the Slovene architect Edvard Ravnikar
Edvard Ravnikar
Edvard Ravnikar was a Slovenian architect.He was a professor at the Ljubljana School of Architecture, who made the most decisive contribution to the promotion of Scandinavian architectural style in Slovenia, particularly Finnish achievements in architecture accomplished by those such as Alvar...
. In 2001, a large transparent glass gallery, designed by the architects Jurij Sadar and Boštjan Vuga, was built to connect the two wings of the building.
The exhibits
The gallery hosts a permanent art collection from the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
to the early 20th century. The original of the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
Robba fountain can also be seen in the central glass gallery of the building, where it was moved after extensive restoration in 2006.
The notable Slovene and European artists whose works are exhibited in the gallery include:
- Anton AžbeAnton AžbeAnton Ažbe was a Slovene realist painter and teacher of painting.Ažbe, crippled since birth and orphaned at the age of 8, learned painting as an apprentice to Janez Wolf and at the Academies in Vienna and Munich. At the age of 30 Ažbe founded his own school of painting in Munich that became a...
- Giovanni BaglioneGiovanni BaglioneGiovanni Baglione was an Italian Late Mannerist and Early Baroque painter and art historian. He is best remembered for his acrimonious involvement with the artist Caravaggio and his writings concerning the other Roman artists of his time.-Early life:A pupil of Francesco Morelli, he worked mainly...
- Franc Bernekar
- Renato BirolliRenato Birolli-Biography:Birolli was born at Verona to a family of industrial workers. In 1923 he moved to Milan where he formed an avanguardist group with other artists such as Renato Guttuso, Giacomo Manzù and Aligi Sassu. In 1937 he was a member of the artistical movement called Corrente di Vita...
- Massimo CampigliMassimo CampigliMassimo Campigli , born Max Ihlenfeld, was an Italian painter and journalist.He was born in Berlin, but spent most of his childhood in Florence. His family moved to Milan in 1909, and here he worked on the Letteratura magazine, frequenting avant-garde circles and making the acquaintance of...
- Giovanni Andrea Carlone
- Anton ČebejAnton CebejAnton Cebej was a Slovenian baroque painter.He was born in Sturje in modern day Ajdovščina.Notable works include Exaltation of the Cross from Vinica, painted in 1750 and Death of St Josephus painted in 1774 shortly before his death .Three of his paintings are in the National Gallery of Slovenia...
- Lojze Dolinar
- Frans Francken II
- Friedrich GauermannFriedrich GauermannFriedrich Gauermann , Austrian painter, son of the landscape painter Jacob Gauermann , was born at Miesenbach near Gutenstein in Lower Austria....
- Ivan GroharIvan GroharIvan Grohar was a Slovene Impressionist painter. Together with Rihard Jakopič, Matej Sternen and Matija Jama, he is considered one of the leading figures of Slovene impressionism in the fin de siecle period.- Life :...
- Rihard JakopičRihard JakopicRihard Jakopič was a Slovenian painter. He was the leading Slovenian Impressionist painter and theoretician. Together with Matej Sternen, Matija Jama and Ivan Grohar, he is considered the pioneer of Slovenian impressionist painting.- Life :Jakopič was born in Ljubljana, then part of the...
- Matija JamaMatija JamaMatija Jama was a Slovene painter. Together with Rihard Jakopič, Ivan Grohar and Matej Sternen, he is considered among the best representatives of Impressionism in the Slovene Lands.- Life :...
- Abraham JanssensAbraham JanssensAbraham Janssens van Nuyssen was a Flemish Baroque painter.He was born at Antwerp, in a year variously reported between 1567 and 1576. He studied under Jan Snellinck, was a master in 1602, and in 1607 was dean of the master-painters...
- Jacob JordaensJacob JordaensJacob Jordaens was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Unlike those contemporaries he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their...
- Jean JouvenetJean JouvenetJean-Baptiste Jouvenet was a French painter, especially of religious subjects.He was born into an artistic family in Rouen...
- Ivana KobilcaIvana KobilcaIvana Kobilca was a Slovene realist painter who lived, worked and studied in various European cities including Vienna, Sarajevo, Berlin, Paris and Munich. She was a member of Société Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris. Many of her paintings are still lifes, portraits or country settings...
- Matevž Langus
- Filipp MalyavinFilipp MalyavinFilipp Andreevich Malyavin was a Russian painter and draftsman. Trained in icon-painting as well as having studied under the great Russian realist painter Ilya Repin, Malyavin is unusual among the Russian artists of the time for having a peasant background...
- Jožef Petkovšek
- Jacob PynasJacob PynasThe brothers Jan Symonsz Pynas and Jacob Symonsz Pynas were Dutch painters of the Baroque period. Their sister Meynsge married the artist Jan Tengnagel in 1611...
- Gerard SeghersGerard SeghersGerard Seghers , also Zegers, was a Flemish Baroque painter and one of the leading Caravaggisti in the Southern Netherlands.-Biography:...
- Matej SternenMatej SternenMatej Sternen was a leading Slovene Impressionist painter.Sternen was born in Verd, now part of the Carniolan municipality of Vrhnika, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He attended the secondary school in Krško and attended technical school in Graz between 1888 and 1891...
- Janez Šubic
- Jurij Šubic
- Jožef TomincJožef TomincGiuseppe Tominz, also known as Jožef Tominc was a Italian painter who lived and worked in the Austrian Empire and in Italy. He was one of the most prominent Italian and Austrian portraitists of the Biedermeier period. He became renowned for his realistic portraits,...
- Ivan Vavpotič
- Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun
- Cornelis de WaelCornelis de WaelCornelis de Wael was a Flemish painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Italy, specifically Genoa. He was born in Antwerp, the son of a painter, and died in Rome.-Biography:...
- Ivan Zajec