Miroslav Zikmund – Poetic Romantic

The exhibitionPoetic Romantic offers a glimpse into the work of Pilsen-based painter, sculptor, and museum conservator Miroslav Zikmund. His painting style can be classified within the poetics of naïve artists, while thematically it aligns primarily with Romanticism and Symbolism. The fairy-tale-like scenes may be echoes of childhood memories, which, on a deeper level, intertwine with legends and folklore, responding to a historical past that gradually sinks into a mysterious atmosphere. His distinctive works are part of public and private collections in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Miroslav Zikmund (1931–2004) spent his childhood in Starý Plzenec. After completing an apprenticeship as a sign painter, he studied graphic design and painting at the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Prague. Beginning in 1956, he worked as a graphic designer at a promotional agency in Plzeň, where he played a long-term role in organizing the renowned EX Plzeň exhibitions and many other cultural events. He also left his mark on the spa towns of Western Bohemia—in Karlovy Vary and Cheb, he designed the interiors of several wine bars and cafés. After 1971, he devoted himself to conservation work; from the 1980s onward, he also worked for what was then the Plzeň-North District Museum in Mariánská Týnice. From the 1990s onward, he was a member of the Union of Fine Artists of the Czech Republic and the International Organization of Fine Artists. His work was widely published, for example, on numerous postcards issued by the Kincl & Hauner publishing house in Prague.