Slavko Šohaj
On the Beach, 1997
Oil on canvas
130 × 116.4 cm
MG-6933

Slavko Šohaj (Zagreb, 1908–2003) was one of the foremost representatives of Croatian lyrical intimism. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he studied under the distinguished painters Ljubo Babić and Vladimir Becić. He continued his artistic training in Paris during two stays, from 1931 to 1932 and again in 1939, where he experienced the dynamic atmosphere of the European avant-garde firsthand. He made his public debut in Zagreb in 1934, exhibiting as a guest of the "Group of Three", and was soon recognised by critics as an authentic representative of figurative poetic realism. His time in Paris further enriched his artistic development, and his oeuvre became largely devoted to intimate subjects, portraits, nudes, and still lifes. He worked under the influence of major French artists, including Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, and Claude Monet. From the 1960s onwards, his painting gradually evolved towards a more decorative and flattened style, characterised by increasing stylisation and a stronger emphasis on subjective expression within an abstract visual language.
Painted in 1997, “On the Beach” belongs to the late phase of Slavko Šohaj's career, when his artistic expression was marked by an increasing stylisation of form and a pronounced decorative quality. The composition is dominated by two female nudes shown frontally against a boldly striped background in black, orange, blue, and green. The figures are rendered with simplified contours and elongated proportions, while the contrast between the pale bodies and the dark background further emphasises their presence. In the lower right corner, a stylised hat serves as a visual reference to the beach setting suggested by the title. Through freely applied paint and reduced forms, Šohaj achieves a balance between figurative representation and decorative expression, allowing colour and compositional rhythm to become the painting's primary means of artistic expression.

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