Exhibition MURTIĆ 100 – an exhibition in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Edo Murtić

The great Croatian and world renowned abstract painter

Home of HDLU, May, 25.- July, 18, 2021.

Meštrović pavilion, the Home of HDLU, will soon open its doors for another exhibition that will once again surprise, delight, and inspire visitors with its opus. The great Croatian abstract painter Edo Murtić will beautify spring and summer in Zagreb with a series of events organized in his honor.

Murtić 100 is a project that marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Edo Murtić, the undisputed giant in Croatian modern art who left his mark not only in Croatia but also in the world. The exhibition opens on May 25 and by July 18, visitors will be able to view more than 100 amazing works of this modern painting icon. In addition to the work of the great Edo Murtić, the project includes a number of other events – the international symposium Gesture and Freedom, which will be held in Zagreb and Rovinj in June 2021, the exhibition New Abstract Art in Lauba – the House for People and Art from June, 1 till June 10, 2021, and a series of accompanying events  (reinterpretations of Murtić through street art at several locations in Zagreb, workshops for children and adults, guided tours, customized guided tours for children with accompanying work materials, tactile image to bring art closer to blind and partially sighted people etc.).

It is a great pleasure and happiness to participate in the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of Edo Murtić’s birth with a large exhibition of his works. Edo Murtić changes the perception of who an artist is in society and pushes the boundaries of the meaning of a work of art in public space. I am especially pleased that through this project, in cooperation with the Tourist Board of the City of Zagreb, new ways of developing a long-term strategy of recognizing Zagreb as a tourist destination will be developed. Artist Edo Murtić is an ideal starting point for such an initiative. I personally love the energy, love, and luxurious talent of Edo Murtić. – on the occasion of the announcement of the exhibition, Tomislav Buntak, President of HDLU and Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb

Edo Murtić, with his painting opus and strong artistic personality, marked and formed the cultural life of Croatia and the region in the second half of the 20th century. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and the school of Petar Dobrović in Belgrade. He held his first solo exhibition in Zagreb in 1935. Murtić’s early figurative painting, thanks to a continuous evolution inspired by study trips to France, Italy, and the USA, and contacts with the world’s leading post-war artists, gradually transformed into a special variation of abstract painting with expressive gestures, lyrical charge, and strong colorism. With his unique and recognizable painting style, he created one of the most influential opuses of high modernism in Southeast Europe. His exhibitions in 1953 in Zagreb and Belgrade were among the first solo exhibitions in the socialist world to present elements of abstract art. Edo Murtić has realized more than three hundred solo and as many group exhibitions on all continents, including notable performances at the Venice Biennial. His works are present in most representative public and private collections around the world.

In addition to a rich oeuvre, Murtić’s work includes theatrical sets, murals, mosaics, enamels, sculptures, and ceramics. He is the winner of many major domestic and foreign awards and recognitions. He lived and worked in Zagreb and Vrsar.

The Murtić 100 exhibition at the Home of HDLU (Meštrović Pavilion) will be set up under the artistic direction of Branko Franceschi, director of the National Museum of Modern Art. A special feature of the exhibition is the diversity of the artist’s work presented through chronological and thematic units, designed for individual spaces, and the curator added: Edo Murtić, with his variation of gestural abstraction, was a leading figure of regional high modernism in Croatia and Yugoslavia.

The Bačva Gallery will present works that are remembered in the collective memory as paradigmatic works of art of certain sections of high modernism, and the emphasis will be on the dynamic colorism as a fundamental determinant of Murtić’s creative approach. In the PM Gallery, the curator sets Murtić’s activist cycles – dedicated to anti-war themes, which directly indicate Murtić’s importance as a prominent and influential cultural actor, an unwavering advocate of democratic and libertarian principles, while in the Prsten Gallery other artist cycles, performed in other art disciplines, will be presented – gouache, monumental compositions in ceramics, enamel and mosaic, as well as landscapes and city views, which marked all six decades of his work.

The exhibition is accompanied by art workshops for 4 age groups: 5-8 years, 10-15 years, 15+ years, and 55+ years.

Other cultural and artistic activities have been organized within the project that celebrates 100 years since the birth of Edo Murtić, and you can see the announcements of the events on the website murtic100.hr

Tickets for the exhibition will be available at the box office of the Meštrović Pavilion and online through the ENTRIO system.

The working hours of the exhibition are every day from 11 am to 9 pm.