Miroslav Kraljević
Portrait of a Lady with a Hat, 1912
oil on canvas
60.1 × 48.7 cm
MG-2253

After completing his education in Zagreb and Gospić, Miroslav Kraljević enrolled in law studies in Vienna, which he abandoned in order to study painting. In 1906/07 he attended the private school of graphic artist Moritz Heymann in Munich, and in May 1907 he was admitted to the Munich Academy, studying under Hugo von Habermann, where he associated with Josip Račić and Vladimir Becić (the Munich Circle).
After graduating, Kraljević returned to Požega in 1910, where he painted intensively until September 1911, when he moved to Paris. There he enrolled at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, which he soon left. In 1912 he held his first — and during his lifetime, only — solo exhibition at the Ulrich Salon in Zagreb. He died of tuberculosis in 1913.
The vertically oriented painting depicts a woman portrayed down to the chest. The background is neutral grey, rendered with pronounced, energetic impasto brushstrokes. The palette is dark, dominated by shades of grey, black, and brown, with white accents on the collar and decorative feather on the hat, as well as the flesh tones of the face and neck. The emphatic and energetic brushwork, together with the deformation of the sitter’s facial features, creates the expressive intensity of the composition.

Text: Ivana Rončević Elezović PhD, Museum Advisor at the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb