National Museum of Modern Art

• Name — National Museum of Modern Art • Native Name — Nacionalni muzej moderne umjetnosti • Former Name — Vranyczany Palace • Location — Andrije Hebranga 1, Zagreb, Croatia • Type — Art museum • Collection Size — 10,000 objects • Visitors — 76,060 (2017) • Director — Biserka Rauter Plančić • Website — www.nmmu.hr

The Modern Gallery, originally the National Gallery for Croatian Art, dates from the early 1900s, when it was founded by the Art Society with paintings and sculptures acquired by their members, including a donation from Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer. In November 1894, the Palace became the official residence of Archduke Leopold Salvator and his family. The Archduke, very popular in Croatia, was called the "Croatian Archduke". Three of his children born there and hiw wife Princess Blanca of Bourbon was known for her charity. The family moved in Vienna in 1900. Years later, in 1919, a plot to make Croatia an independent kingdom with Archduke Leopold Salvator as king failed. In 1899, Izidor Kršnjavi, gave a presentation to the Art Society in Zagreb, with the idea of establishing the Gallery. His proposal was recorded in the Social Exhibitions Statute (Pravilnik za društvene izložbe) of 1901. In the spring of 1905, to mark the Society's 30th anniversary, three works of art were bought for the future holdings of the Modern Gallery. That year, 1905, is considered to be the official date the Gallery was founded, due to the holdings which were put together at the time. However, the collection grew gradually and it was not open for public viewing until 1914, in a single room of today's Museum of Arts and Crafts building, where it was available only to those who showed a special interest in it. As the collection expanded, the Gallery moved to its current building, the Vranyczany Palace on Zrinjevac Park in 1934 and it has been there, with a pause during World War II, up until the present day. The Vranyczany Palace was designed by the Viennese architect Otto Hofer, and constructed in 1882 by Ferdo Kondrat for Baron Lujo Vranyczany. Since the end of 19th century the building has changed ownership frequently, and has been restored several times. Through the years, the Vranyczany building has entertained some well-known figures in Croatia's cultural, political and economic life. From its balcony in November 1884, Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer watched the celebrations organised in his honour on the occasion of the opening of the gallery named after him. The splendid receptions of the past have now been replaced by the contemplative atmosphere of Zagreb's gallery of modern art. The Palace underwent a complete renovation between 1993 and 2005, when the current exhibition was opened to the public. Two floors of the palace have become a modern-equipped gallery showing the permanent collection of Croatian modern painting and sculpture. In the completely refurbished historic rooms, the Modern Gallery presents "Two Hundred Years of Croatian Fine Arts (1800-2000)", a representative selection of 650-700 of the best works by painters, sculptors and medal makers. The Modern Gallery has become the best known, and most complete Croatian modern art museum. Retrospectives and monographic exhibitions of works by the most prominent Croatian artists have been taking place there since the end of the 1960s, as well as theme exhibitions of Croatian and European modern art.

• Illustration — Interior • Illustration — Śmierć króla Przemysła II (Death of King Przemysł), Jan Matejko, 1875 • Illustration — Self-portrait with a dog, Miroslav Kraljević, 1910 • Illustration — Self-portrait, Josip Račić, 1908 • Illustration — Žrtva Neomova, Celestin Medović, 1895 • Illustration — Veliki Tabor-žena u krevetu (Veliki Tabor, woman in bed), Oton Iveković, 1939 • Illustration — Zrelo voće (Ripe fruit), Miroslav Kraljević, 1912 • Illustration — Ikar na hridi, (Ikar on the rock), Vlaho Bukovac, 1897 • Illustration — Bonaca (Calmness), Menci Clement Crnčić, 1906 • Illustration — Hugo Vasilij Hoyos, Vlaho Bukovac, 1895 • Illustration — Muški akt (Man act), Ivan Tišov, 1913 • Illustration — Studija Rebeke (Rebeca studies), Ivan Tišov, 1894 • Illustration — Pejzaž (Landscape), Menci Clement Crnčić, 1915 - 1920