Tag: Robert Auer

Robert Auer, Love, 1912

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

Robert Auer, Natura morte, 1914

Robert Auer
Natura morte, 1914
oil on canvas
80.5 x 70.8 cm
MG-358

Robert Auer (1873-1952) studied painting at the School of Crafts in Zagreb, at the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he moved to in 1895 and exhibited at the Munich Art Nouveau exhibition in 1896. Together with his wife, painter Leopoldina Auer Schmidt, in 1987 he opened a private art school in Zagreb, which was attended by painters Tomislav Krizman and Joso Bužan. He participated in the founding of the Lada Croatian Artists’ Association and the Society of Croatian Artists. He taught at the School of Crafts in Zagreb from 1905 and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb from 1918. In terms of style, Auer painted in the vein of Munich-based Academicism and Jugendstil, and portraits and nudes in the spirit of idealised Realism, which were particularly popular amongst the bourgeoisie of his time.
Auer’s Natura morte from 1914 is executed in a solid academic style of tonal painting, characterised by muted complementary hues of burgundy and green. The depiction of the transparent glass and the water in the large jar is especially accomplished, showcasing a near-masterful technique. The still life of winter preserves is convincingly rendered, with the human figure deliberately omitted. The composition features muted tones of red, yellow, and green peppers, along with a deep green, earthy jug, all set against a white draped tablecloth. This arrangement brings to life a geometrically structured composition divided into three clear zones: the lower horizontal zone of the white pleated drapery, the upper two-thirds of the vertical format with a red-brown background enlivened by dishes and vegetables hanging on the wall, and the central horizontal zone that highlights the ‘protagonist’ of the scene – the still life arrayed across the table.

Text: Ivana Rončević Elezović, PhD. museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

Robert Auer, Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1917

Robert Auer
Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1917
oil on canvas
205 x 251 cm
MG-367

Robert Auer (1873–1952) studied painting at the School of Crafts in Zagreb, at the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he moved to in 1895 and exhibited at the Munich Art Nouveau exhibition in 1896. Together with his wife, painter Leopoldina Auer Schmidt, in 1897 he opened a private art school in Zagreb, which was attended by painters Tomislav Krizman and Joso Bužan. He participated in the founding of the Lada Croatian Artists’ Association and the Society of Croatian Artists. He taught at the School of Crafts in Zagreb from 1905 and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb from 1918. In terms of style, Auer painted in the vein of Munich-based Academicism and Jugendstil, and his portraits and nudes in the spirit of idealised Realism were particularly popular among the bourgeoisie of his time.
Auer’s painting Temptation of Saint Anthony from 1917, depicts a frequently portrayed motif from the life of the 4th-century saint, Anthony the Abbot or Anthony the Great, who faced temptations of carnal desires and resisted them through prayer and fasting. Typically, St. Anthony the Abbot is depicted in his old age, leaning on a staff, wearing a hood and a monastic habit symbolizing his role as the father of monasticism. Here, however, he is shown in a whirlwind of nudes symbolizing the swirling vortex of passions against which he struggles, as a young man with a tonsure, a distinctive haircut introduced in Christianity in the 4th century and abolished in 1972. This hairstyle is commonly used to depict St. Anthony of Padua, who lived in the 13th century. The painting is executed in a realistic, academic style.

Text: Ivana Rončević Elezović, museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb, 2023
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Filip Beusan © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb, 2023