Remains of Dubrovnik's past
Occupied since Neolithic times, the city site has revealed some precious stone sculptures. Unfortunately, the great earthquake that struck the city in 1667 wiped out many of its cultural assets. However, in the second half of the 19th century, the Archaeological Museum, formerly known as the Patriotic Museum, brought together collections bequeathed by Dubrovnik families. Among the oldest pieces are Roman capitals and architectural elements from temples. Some sculptures and ceramic fragments evoke later periods, up to the dawn of the Middle Ages.
The city of Ragusa
The city-state of Ragusa, founded in 1358, was for centuries a bridge between the Eastern and Western worlds. Byzantine influences, visible in the earliest religious works, were followed by the influence of Venetian painters in the 13th century. However, the quality of Dubrovnik's art was not yet comparable to that of the Venetian or Florentine masters. Nevertheless, painting in Dubrovnik enjoyed a flourishing period, in keeping with the city's prestigious past.
The Franciscan order and the city's noble families owned a number of Italian Renaissance masterpieces (Caravaggio, Titian), which have been lost to history, notably in the earthquake of 1667. Several Italian masters reside in Dubrovnik at the invitation of the government and local patrons.
Dubrovnik School
In the 13th century, the Dominican monks who had recently arrived in Dubrovnik began building the monastery, a process which lasted almost two centuries. The Dominican monastery, or Dominikanski samostan, bears the imprint of a succession of different styles: Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic. Not forgetting the reconstruction that followed the earthquake. A hint of oriental influence is still perceptible in the ornamentation. In the cloister, the Monastery Museum houses religious objects, superb religious sculptures and, above all, canvases from the Dubrovnik School, a group of painters from the 15th and 16th centuries.
Although very little evidence of this school remains, we do know that it revolved around the following painters: Lovro Dobričević, of whom three works have survived and are accessible to the public - the polyptych in the Dominican monastery, the polyptych in the church of St. Mary in Danče and some panels of the polyptych(Portrait of St. Blaise) located in the Franciscan monastery or Franjevčki samostan in Dubrovnik. His son Vicko Lovrin produced a polyptych in the 16th century, which can be seen in the church of Our Lady of the Snows (Gospa od Snijega) in Cavtat.
A key figure in this Ragusan school, Nikola Božidarević was a member of Dobričević's workshop. He bowed to the tastes of the rather conservative Ragusan patrons, and his creations were more Byzantine than Renaissance. Only one triptych has survived (currently in the church in Danče), as well as three works in the museum of the Dominican monastery or Dominikanski samostan.
Finally, Mihajlo Hamzić apprenticed with Andrea Mantegna in Italy. He was responsible for The Baptism of Christ, exhibited in the Rector's Palace or Knežev Dvor, and a triptych depicting St. Nicholas in the Dominican Monastery.
Byzantine influence
The interior of the Dominican monastery church is dominated by the large wooden crucifix painted by Paolo Veneziano (c. 1290-c. 1360). The first known Venetian painter, he made his career in the 14th century. His art is strongly imbued with Byzantine codes (frozen posture, use of gold), as Venice was then a place of commercial and cultural exchange. However, this crucifix bears witness to a change in Veneziano's style. A certain suppleness characterizes his Christ, whose features are full of humanity.
Dubrovnik's Byzantine past (9th-12th centuries) has left few traces. The main influence of the Byzantine school remains the art of icons. Painted on wood, these small religious representations are characterized by an abundance of golden tones and the use of simplified, even constrained forms. The Museum of Icons, part of the Serbian Orthodox Church community, is housed in a four-hundred-year-old building. Its collection features icons painted between the 15th and 19th centuries. The walls of this former private residence tell the story of five centuries of religious art.
Baroque and classicism
The development of the arts in Dubrovnik became inextricably linked with trends in the rest of Croatia, once the city was no longer at the height of its glory. From the 17th to the 18th century, Baroque art flourished in Croatia, with the emergence of illusionist painting. This Baroque style is perfectly expressed in the architecture of Dubrovnik, rebuilt after the earthquake of 1667. Classicism began in the 19th century, followed by the appearance of the Biedermaier style, specific to Austria and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The representative of this period is the Croatian Vjekoslav Karas. The second half of the century saw the emergence of historical painting, closely linked to the revival of national consciousness (Quiquerez, Mašić, Iveković) and in particular Mato Medović (1857-1920). This Pelješac-born artist, author of the historic painting The Arrival of the Croats, would nevertheless end up devoting himself to coastal painting in his native village.
Modernism of Vlaho Bukovac
Vlaho Bukovac (1855-1922) represents the new trends in Croatian painting in the second half of the 20th century. Born in Cavtat, the Croatian painter trained in Paris in Cabanel's studio, then taught in Prague. His initially academic style evolved towards postimpressionism. In 1882, his Grande Iza caused a sensation at the Paris Salon. His painting La Femme monténégrine was also noticed. He was invited to visit the UK on several occasions. He enjoyed growing success in the late 1880s. He was invited to the Venice Biennale in 1897 and three years later to the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900. Bukovac moved away from the academicism of his masters to follow the path of the Impressionists and Modernists. He took part in workshops with the Fontainebleau School. In 1893, Bukovac returned to Croatia, and became one of the most prominent members of the Zagreb multicolored school. He also founded the Society of Croatian Artists. From 1898 to 1903, he worked in his Cavtat studio, searching for new chromatic solutions. Later appointed professor at the Prague School of Fine Arts, he introduced pointillism.
A pillar of the Dubrovnik pictorial renaissance, he was one of the creators of the Zagrebačka šarena škola (Zagreb Multicolored School) and influenced the formation of the Croatian Secession (Čikoš-Sesija, Crnčić). You can visit Vlaho Bukovac's birthplace (Kuca Bukovac) in Cavtat.
20th Century Renewal
In the 20th century, Croatia followed European artistic trends. The instigators of Croatian modernism are painters educated in Munich (Račić, Kraljević, Becić). Works by Ivan Meštrović, a renowned Croatian artist, date from this period.
The Museum of Modern Art or MOMAD showcases Croatian artists from the late 19th century to around 1970, just a stone's throw from the Pile Gate. A number of international artists are also represented in this collection of three thousand works. Landscapes and realistic portraits of the region's leading personalities are the dominant themes. These include Vlaho Bukovac, but also Josip Račić (1885-1908). This painter of genius, who died at the age of 23, spent some time in Paris in 1908. His most famous painting is Le Pont des Arts.
The sculptor Ivan Meštrović (1883-1962), frequented Bilinić's studio in Split, exhibited in Vienna before moving to Paris in 1908-1909. He befriended Rodin. His sculptures have twice been exhibited at the Musée Rodin. Several of his works adorn the Dubrovnik region. He is notably credited with the statue of Saint Blaise at the Pile Gate or Vrata od Pila, as well as the Račić family mausoleum in Cavtat.
Between the wars, Croatia saw the development of Expressionism and Cubism (Tartaglia, Šulentić, Gecan). After the war, the School of Naive Art was founded in Hlebine. The early 1950s saw the development of abstract trends.
Contemporary art
Around 1960, the era of the "second avant-garde" began. Local painting was reborn under the impetus of some of these new masters who followed in Bukovac's footsteps, notably the trio of contemporary artists Dulčić (1916-1975), Masle (1919-1967) and Pulitika (1922-2006), all natives of the Dubrovnik region, who drew inspiration from local landscapes and motifs and some of whose works can be seen at Galerie Dulčić-Masle-Pulitika.
Pulitika's sunny paintings are somewhat like children's drawings, simple and touching. Pulitika uses blue in a great many of his pictorial creations. In his Stradun (1972), the white of the cobblestones seems to splash against the rest of the canvas. The artist also painted several female nudes against a Dalmatian landscape background. Masle's painting, slightly more abstract, is also very colorful and uses simple figures. Boats in Dubrovnik's old port languish at the foot of the ramparts in Gradska luka (1967).
Ivo Dulčić was born in Dubrovnik in 1916, into a family from Hvar. He was one of the most influential figures in Croatian painting in the second half of the 20th century. Strongly imbued with patriotism, an awareness of change, love for his people, humanism and Catholicism, Dulčić is the author of the stained glass windows adorning theChurch of St. Blaise or Crkva Sv. Vlaha church in Dubrovnik. From his first self-portraits in 1942 to his last work, The Last Supper in 1975 (destroyed during the 1991-1995 war), Dulčić reaffirmed his affection for freedom and his gift for color. His last artistic phase brought him back to figurative art and led him to produce more stained glass and mosaics.
Nowadays
Today, artistic development follows major global trends. Dubrovnik is home to a number of original initiatives, such as the War Photo Limited museum. The museum is dedicated to photography, which bears realistic witness to the world's armed conflicts.
Street art culture is flourishing, even if the historic heart of the city is not its preferred playground. Croatians Lunar and Lonac formed the first urban art tandem. Together, they created a long fresco in Mokosica on the theme of Star Wars, the saga partly filmed in the region. On the walls of the local school, Lunar's style can be recognized by the dreamy cat that has become his signature. Next to him, his father-cat in pilot's outfit plays with an X-Wing. Lonac is known for his hyper-realistic style. Perhaps this joyful collaboration will set the trend..
