Location: Gallery of Fine Arts (Ulica kralja Tomislava 15)

Dates: September 25, 2025 – November 30, 2025

Exhibition curators: Božo Majstorović and Iris Slade

Exhibition opening: Thursday, 25th September 2025 7 p.m.

In September 1885, Vlaho Bukovac exhibited more than forty works across two halls of the Royal School, including a number of smaller genre paintings, several seascapes, and a few minor sketches. The exhibition at the Realgymnasium (Velika Realka), located in the western wing of the Prokurative, was the first art event in Split and is regarded as the birthplace of the city’s modern art. On the occasion of its 140th anniversary, which coincides with the 170th anniversary of the artist’s birth, the Museum of Fine Arts has decided to pay tribute to Bukovac’s pivotal role in the development of visual arts in Split. Given the fact that his name is associated with the most significant events marking its early history, his role, much as in the cases of Dubrovnik and Zagreb, can be regarded as foundational. This recognition in no way diminishes the contributions of Vidović and Meštrović, whom Bukovac, despite the age difference, respected and supported.

Bukovac’s presence in the unofficial Dalmatian metropolis, though neither as frequent nor as prolonged as in Cavtat, Dubrovnik, or Zagreb, is the focus of the exhibition Vlaho Bukovac and Split. The close and mutually respectful relationship between the city and the artist, established during his sole extended stay in Split, from the winter of 1884 to early autumn 1885, remained apparent in later visits and endured beyond his death. In Split, Bukovac held his most extensive solo exhibition in the country (Velika Realka, 1885) as well as his first posthumous exhibition (foyer of the Municipal Theatre, 1925). When the Museum of Fine Arts eventually opened in 1931, around twenty of his paintings were displayed in its finest spaces.

The 140th anniversary of Split’s first art exhibition is being marked by the Museum of Fine Arts as an hommage to Bukovac’s artistic legacy, showcasing the painter’s works created or exhibited in Split from 1884 to the late 1930s. In addition to Bukovac’s paintings, the exhibition will include selected works from the Archaeological Museum in Split, the Tuškanac Education Centre in Zagreb, the Split City Museum, the Museums and Galleries of Konavle, the Bukovac House in Cavtat, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb, the National Museum Zadar, the Archdiocese of Split-Makarska, and private collections in Kuna, Zagreb, and Split.

Museum openng hours: Tuesday- Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Further information available at: https://galum.hr/en/exhibitions