The Montanelli Museum will present the work of Bedřich Dlouhý, one of the most prominent figures in Czech postwar art. The paintings and objects come from the Museum Montanelli’s own collection. They will thus offer visitors the opportunity to encounter the work of an artist whose original artistic language combines precise painting, imagination, symbolism, and a distinctive sense of irony.

Rather than presenting an academically and systematically organized chronological exhibition, the museum will this time focus instead on recollections of past encounters with Bedřich Dlouhý, on the atmosphere of the space in dialogue with the exhibited works, and will take the viewer to a completely unexpected place where Bedřich Dlouhý spent his creative life—his own studio.

Bedřich Dlouhý, associated with the Šmidrové group, developed a distinctive approach to painting throughout his life. In his works, he combined realistically captured details with surprising connections, creating visual worlds in which the ordinary is transformed into a spectacle that is both unsettling and poetic.

The exhibited work raises questions of identity, memory, and the relationship between reality and its artistic interpretation. It invites the viewer to look closely and discover meanings that gradually emerge beneath the surface of the painting.

By presenting works from its own collection, the Museum Montanelli highlights the importance of long-term care for Czech visual art and making significant works of art accessible to the public.

Curator: Dadja Altenburg Kohl