December 20, 2018
In 1861 the painter Ivana Kobilica, one of the most famous Slovenian artists of all time, was born in Ljubljana.
Ivana Kobilica managed to achieve what her male colleagues only dreamt of: she had several exhibitions at the prestigious Paris Salon and became an associate member of the French National Association of Fine Arts. She lived and worked in many of the European capitals, including Vienna, Munich, Paris, Sarajevo, and Berlin, but returned to Ljubljana at the beginning of the WWI.
After the so-called Munich period during which brownish colours prevailed in her paintings, purple, blue and green took over during her Paris period, which were joined by white during her Berlin phase. Her opus is characterised by depictions of family members and children, portraits of bourgeoisie of Ljubljana and, above all, flowers.
Many of her most iconic paintings are part of the permanent exhibition of Slovenian National Gallery.
Ivana Kobilica was also the only woman depicted on a 5,000 Slovenian Tolar bill before Slovenia switched to the euro.
