Vilko Gecan

In the Zagreb Spring Salon of the 1920s, he participated with Milivoj Uzelac, Marijan Trepše and Vladimir Varlaj, who together were known as the "Group of Four" or "The Prague Four".

Trained in Prague, works of these young painters brought new expressionist ideas that went on to dominate the 1920s Croatian art scene.

[3] He attended school in Karlovac, Glogovnici, Zagreb, Dubica, and from 1910 the gymnasium in Banja Luka, where he met Milivoj Uzelac, with whom he developed a strong friendship that was to last throughout his life.

[4] By 1931, Gecan experienced the first symptoms of Parkinson's disease,[4] a tremor in his right hand that would become stronger, increasingly hindering his ability to paint.

In 1935, aged 41, he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb, in order to formally earn his academic degree.

In the autumn of 1919, Gecan moved to Prague, joining Milivoj Uzelac, Vladimir Varlaj, Marijan Trepše, Ivo Režek and Frano Kršinić.

Miroslav Kraljević's legacy shows in the Klinik (Clinic) cycle, where cubism combined with realism and intense colour.

A young man in a red suit and bow tie sits at an oversized table with a shifted perspective that is tilted towards the viewer.

[6] Gecan's later paintings show a broader understanding of style and echoes of cubism, specifically the stylization of art deco.

After spending some years in the United States, his work became softer, with a more conventional realism, and he created many still lifes and landscapes.

The Cynic ( Cinik ), 1921