Ulica kralja Tomislava 15
The Art Gallery was founded in 1931,
and has recently been located in the Old Hospital not far from the
northern walls of
Diocletian's Palace in Split, inside the Bastion of Cornar.
Among the permanent exhibition are paintings and sculptures from the
14th century to modern times. The works of Andrija Aleši and Juraj
Ćulinović from the 15th century, Andrija Medulić from the 16th
century, Matej Pončun and Federik Benković from the century and
paintings by Venetian masters of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque
stand out. Also, the gallery exhibits valuable icons from the period
15-19. century. The most numerous are the works of important
Croatian artists Bukovac, Dešković, Job, Medović, Meštrović and
Vidović.
History
In 1908, the first Dalmatian art exhibition of modern art
was held in the then Austro-Hungarian city of Split. The event was
attended by just over 10,000 visitors and was a major event for the then
relatively small provincial town, which at the time had just over 20,000
inhabitants. The art exhibition engaged many local artists and was the
starting point for the establishment of the city's first art gallery.
The foundations of the future art museum's collections were initially
added through private donations, not least from the then mayor of Split,
Ivo Tartaglia (1880–1949). Over the next 20 years the collection grew
and in 1928 the Art Gallery was formally established. However, it was
not until December 1, 1931 that it opened to the public.
The
museum was initially housed in a building at the street address
Lovretska ulica and at the opening the collections consisted of 500
works of art of which 300 were shown in the exhibitions. The number of
works of art in the collections continued to grow, and soon there was a
need for a new museum building. In 2009, the Art Gallery moved into the
current building after it had been adapted to the museum's needs.
Collections and exhibitions
The art museum's collections include
more than 5,200 objects, of which nearly 400 objects are displayed on an
exhibition area of 2,200 square meters. The exhibition begins on the
first floor of the museum with works by the Old Masters (15th–19th
centuries) and continues with anthological works by masters of Croatian
Modernism (1900–1950s). The second half of the 20th century is
represented by works from high modernism (1950s–1970s), which includes
the Croatian internationally recognized abstract art production. The
ground floor displays indigenous and local contemporary art
(1960s–present).
In addition to the photo, film and video
collection, the museum has another five (described below) collections.
The Old Masters Collection
The collection of the old masters
forms an important part of the museum's holdings in terms of the number
of works of art as well as their diversity and quality. The collection
includes works of art from the 14th–18th centuries and paintings by both
domestic and foreign artists, including Paolo Veneziano, Andrea Alessi,
Juraj Čulinović, Girolamo Brusaferro, Matteo Ponzone and Federico
Bencovich. The collection's most interesting artworks include the
engraving Melencolia by Albrecht Dürer and the painting Allegory of the
Four Seasons by Peter Brandl.
The icon collection
The Art
Museum's collection of icons is one of the most extensive of its kind in
Croatia. The collection includes Cretan-Venetian icons, icons from the
Bay of Kotor, Russia and the Greek mainland that stylistically represent
both the Cretan school and the Ionian school. The icon collection has
been added through years of acquisition and a large part of the icons
comes from the private collection of former mayor Ivo Tartaglia. Most of
the icons are small or medium in size indicating that they were
originally used for private devotion.
The collection of modern
art
The collection of modern art includes works (including paintings
and sculptures) from the 19th century to the year 1950. The collection
includes particularly valuable and ground-breaking works by some of the
best Croatian artists. The stylistic changes that occurred during the
period from the 19th century to the second half of the 20th century
(from Classicism and Biedermeier to Romanticism and Realism) are
reflected, among others, in the works of the domestic artists Juraj
Pavlović, Ivan Skvarčina, Ivan Rendić, Vlaho Bukovac, Ivan Meštrović,
Emanuel Vidović and Mato Celestin Medović. The collection also includes
works by the foreign artists Egon Schiele and George Grosz.
The
collection of contemporary art
The collection of contemporary art
includes works from the year 1950 to the present. It mostly contains
works of art produced in various types of media. Through the
collection's artwork, the development of the artistic tendencies during
the period from the 1950s onwards is reflected. The collection includes
works by local artists Ivan Picelj, Julije Knifer, Goran Petercol, Ivan
Faktor, Dalibor Martinis, Boris Bućan, Dubravka Rakoci and Edita
Schubert.
The design and poster collection
The design and
poster collection contains artworks produced from the 1930s to the
present day. Thematically, the collection mostly consists of exhibition
and theater posters. These works not only have an artistic value, but
are also a documentation of local cultural events that took place in
Split from the 20th century to the present day.
The museum building
The art gallery is located in a building
called "Stara bolnica" (Old Hospital). The building was erected in 1792
according to drawings by the architect Petar Kurir and was the city's
first municipal hospital. In 1872, the property was expanded and it then
received its current exterior design, which bears stylistic features
from the Neo-Renaissance. In connection with the extension, which was
made according to drawings by the architect Josip Slade, the south wing
and the building's central atrium with veranda were added. In the late
1970s, the building was adapted according to drawings by the architect
Vuko Bombardelli to accommodate the "Muzej narodne revolucije" (Museum
of the People's Revolution), which was closed in 1991. Since 1996, the
building has housed the Art Gallery and the Multimedia Culture Center.
In the years 2004–2009, the building was reconstructed, expanded and
further adapted to meet the needs of the Art Museum. Despite the many
changes, the building is a valuable example of 19th century architecture
and it plays an important role in Split's history as the city's first
hospital.