Vladimir Becić: a retrospective

Vladimir Becić is one of the most significant painters of Croatian modern art. Born in Slavonski Brod in 1886, after initial studies in Zagreb he went on to study at Munich's prestigious Academy of Arts. He attended the academy at the same time as three other Croatian painters, Oskar Herman, Miroslav Kraljević and Josip Račić. So key were the three to Croatian 20th Century art that they were often compared to each other and were collectively known as the Munich Circle or Munich Four. After Munich, Becić spent two years studying and working in Paris before returning to Zagreb in 1910. Following a period working in Osijek, Belgrade and Bitolj, he joined the army just before the start of the First World War, working as an artist near the frontline, drawing soldiers and the wounded. After the war, he changed tack, spending time in a village near Sarajevo painting landscapes and rural subjects. In 1924 he returned to Zagreb to become a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, a position he held until 1947. From 1934 he also became a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. This exhibition holds paintings from the length of Becić's career and shows his work from each of the places he lived and worked. It contains paintings from several museum collections as well as privately owned paintings plus several new discoveries, recently unearthed and never before exhibited.