Slavko Šohaj
Flowers with Watermelon and Lemon, 1986
oil on canvas
88.5 × 98.5 cm
MG-6936

Slavko Šohaj (Zagreb, 1908 – 2003) is regarded as one of the foremost exponents of Croatian lyrical intimacy. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he studied under distinguished artists Ljubo Babić (Jastrebarsko, 1890 – Zagreb, 1974) and Vladimir Becić (Slavonski Brod, 1886 – Zagreb, 1954). His artistic education was further enriched by his stays in Paris (1931–1932 and 1939), where he was directly exposed to the vibrant avant-garde art scene of the time.
Šohaj made his public debut in 1934 in Zagreb, exhibiting as a guest of the "Group of Three". He was immediately recognized by critics as an authentic representative of figurative poetic realism.
His Parisian experience profoundly influenced his artistic trajectory, as he developed a highly personal visual language focused on intimate themes, portraits, nudes, and still lifes. His work reflects the influence of major French masters such as Henri Matisse (Le Cateau-Cambrésis, 1869 – Nice, 1954) and Paul Cézanne (Aix-en-Provence, 1839 – 1906), and also bears traces of inspiration drawn from Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 – Giverny, 1926).
Still life compositions, particularly those featuring fruit, are a recurring and defining motif throughout Šohaj’s oeuvre. From the 1960s onwards, his style underwent a gradual transformation—his paintings became more decorative and planar, marked by a growing emphasis on abstraction, stylization, and the subjective expression of form.
Flowers with Watermelon and Lemon, a work from the later phase of Šohaj’s career, is characterized by a vivid chromatic palette and an expressive painterly gesture. It exemplifies the artist’s sustained exploration of the relationship between color and form, and his continuous negotiation between abstraction and figuration.

Text: Luciana Fuks,  Intern curator at the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb