Croatian Museum of Naïve Art – Raffay-Plavšić Palace
In Croatia, Naïve art is also seen as a democratic movement, and it proves that anyone can create worthwhile art regardless of formal education.
Palace
The one-story palace with four wings at the corner was reconstructed between 1913 and 1914. based on the plans of Hugo Ehrlich and Viktor Kovačić, for the investor Prof. Plavšić. The baroque structure of the 17. century palace has been well-preserved. It consists of a basement, vaulted rooms on the ground floor, and a five-room apartment on the first floor. The apartment is organized around a lobby, which can be accessed through a two-legged staircase. Nowadays, the 350 square meters of the palace belong to the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art and in the palace, there are two more apartments.
Museum
The Croatian Museum of Naïve Art is a fine art museum dedicated to the work of naïve artists of the 20th century. The museum holdings consist of over 1,900 works of art – paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints, mainly by Croatians but also by other well-known international artists in the genre.
Naïve art first appeared in Croatia at the beginning of the 1930s when the Zagreb Art Pavilion showcased an exhibition of the artists’ of the Earth Group on 13 September 1931. Of the artists exhibited, two particularly stood out: Ivan Generalić, who showed three drawings and nine watercolors, and Franjo Mraz, who exhibited three watercolors. The artists sought to show that talent does not only reside in certain social classes or privileges and started the association with naïve art and paintings of villages or by artists from the countryside rather than cities. Themes in Croatian naïve art branched out in the 1950s from villages to “personal classics,” which included architectural monuments and objects and opened a period known as “modern primitive art.”
On 1 November 1952, the Peasant Art Gallery was founded in Zagreb. By 1956 it was known as the Gallery of Primitive Art and was then part of the Zagreb Municipal Galleries (today the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb). Since 1994, in line with a decision by the Croatian Parliament, its title has been the Croatian Museum of Naive Art. From the very beginning, the establishment was organized and run according to strict museological principles and is deemed to be the world’s first museum of naive art.
Location
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is situated on the slopes of Medvednica mountain, in the Carpathian Basin, and on the banks of the Sava river. Zagreb has a rich and diverse history, culture, and architecture that reflect its long and turbulent past.
ExploreBaroque
One of the most remarkable periods in Croatian art history is the Baroque, which lasted from the 17th to the late 18th century. During this time, Croatia was reunited with the parts of its territory that were occupied by the Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire, after centuries of fragmentation and division. This reunification not only brought political stability and economic prosperity but also stimulated a cultural revival and a flourishing of art in every segment.
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