VLADIMIR MAKUC: In all directions - Tribute to Vladimir Makuc on the 100th anniversary of his birth
VLADIMIR MAKUC: In all directions - Tribute to Vladimir Makuc on the 100th anniversary of his birth
Blue Thread - Collection of Claudio Dedenaro (Trieste 1952–2017)
Biedermeier Living Room of the Coronini Counts
Vladimir Makuc is one of the most beloved and recognizable Slovenian artists of the 20th century. With his unmistakable style and creative freedom, he became a visual icon and rightfully entered Slovenia’s collective consciousness—even before receiving the Prešeren Award for lifetime achievement, the highest recognition in the field of arts in Slovenia.
Exhibitions at Kromberk Castle:
In the presence of the artist
Aviary
Leda, Europe and others
The Regional Museum Goriški muzej, which preserves an important corpus of the artist's works, together with the Galleries Galerija Prešernovih nagrajencev Kranj, Mestna galerija Nova Gorica, Portopiccolo Art Gallery in Sisitiana (Italy) and the Culture Hall Kulturni dom Gorica (Italy) present a large exhibition project dedicated to Vladimir Makuc to celebrate the centenary of his birth. Six displays that develop in time and space explore in a thematic and retrospective way the extraordinary path of the artist, born in Solkan on 8 May 1925.
At Kromberk Castle, three thematic cycles are on display, always present in the work of Vladimir Makuc, self-portrait, birds and mythology, declined in different genres and techniques throughout his artistic career. At Vila Bartolomei, we focus on the art of printing, as the museum also houses the artist's printing press and numerous graphic plates, which are unique objects that bear the characteristic expressive language of the artist.
Over the years, self-portraiture evolved into a parallel genre for him, resulting in many works employing every technique he mastered. They are set outdoors, where he is painting landscapes, animals, and people with his easel, canvas, and brush. His face ages over the decades meanwhile the landscapes and recurring figures in his works, evidently the products of timeless memory, remain forever unchanged.
Makuc's rustic and sharp-edged poetic vision culminates across all the techniques he embraced, in the iconic representation of birds and little birds—winged creatures that accompanied him throughout his journey. From the lively roosters of the countryside at the end of the 1950s to the aquatic birds of the 2000s. These winged beings symbolize freedom, transcendence, and lightness, as well as serve as magical messengers between worlds, perpetually suspended between earth and sky. The artist regularly resolves their forms with his characteristic childlike exuberance, often sharp and grotesque.
Greek classical mythology profoundly inspired Makuc’s imagination, he was particularly struck by Zeus's transformative ability to become numerous famous animals to pursue his amorous conquests, often taking the form of splendid birds, an iconic theme for the artist. Makuc focused specifically on the myth of Europa, who encountered Zeus in the guise of a bull, and on Leda, seduced by the king of the gods in the form of a swan, alongside depictions of numerous shepherdesses or forest nymphs playing flutes in idyllic rural settings.
Often, through the author’s boundless freedom, overlapping themes and situations, layered with symbols and messages, come together on the surface of his works across various visual and semantic levels, creating a new mythology—a kind of modern, bucolic mythopoeia.
Exhibition in the Villa Bartolomei: The art of printing
Vladimir Makuc was an undisputed master of graphic art, earning recognition and winning awards both in his homeland and abroad for his prints and engravings. Over his long career he experimented with various techniques, starting with woodcut in the 1950s, transitioning in the 1960s to coloured etching combined with aquatint, which allowed him to achieve smooth colour transitions while retaining sharp graphic details. In the 1970s, he also explored relief printing, and finally, from the 1980s onward, he focused on coloured drypoint techniques with interventions using abrasive stone.
At the Villa Bartolomei we are transported into the artist’s studio and into the thick of the process of plate engraving and paper printing with the press, where we stand before the original tools of the master.
Photo: Luka Carlevaris and Katarina Brešan
Location: Kromberk Castle and Villa Bartolomei
From:
8 May 2025
Till:
8 Jan 2026
Curators:
Katarina Brešan and Massimo Premuda