Robert Auer
(1873 – 1952)
Love, 1912
oil on canvas
249.6 x 184.8 cm
MG-361

In the painting Love, Robert Auer presents a group of figures in an almost surreal, densely packed composition where youth and old age, beauty and grotesqueness, life and death intertwine. At the center of the painting is a pair of young lovers, whose tender touch and closed eyes suggest emotional intimacy as well as detachment from reality. Around them unfold a variety of characters and expressions, ranging from seductive, smiling women to distorted faces and aged bodies, through which the artist constructs an allegorical narrative about the transience of life.
Auer employs a rich, dark palette in contrast with the light tones of the sky and the upper figures’ garments, creating a dynamic atmosphere filled with symbolic depth. The rendering of bodies and faces reveals the influence of Art Nouveau and the Viennese school of painting, while the layered composition and psychological tension point toward a symbolist approach. Particular attention is given to expression, movement, and the texture of fabrics, all of which demonstrate Auer’s exceptional technical skill and eye for detail.
Robert Auer was one of the leading Croatian painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and a professor at the Royal Higher School for Art and Applied Arts (today the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb). His works often explore themes of beauty, sensuality, and inner spiritual states. This painting reveals Auer’s ability to unite classical painterly excellence with modern spiritual and existential concerns.

Text: Lorena Šimić, curator / museum educator at the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb