"This exhibition has no banner. Anyone looking for a group with a single, complete artistic programme would be disappointed. Rather, it is inconsistency, all too varied, that accompanies it. But after a period of artificial uniformity, this is a welcome and necessary sign. We are a new generation. The desire to discover the truth in life and art and the aversion to lying to ourselves and to others turns, after some disappointments, into passion. That is where our strength lies. It is yet to bear its fruits."
With these words, the poet and contemporary Milan Rúfus concluded his opening speech at the Young Slovak Art exhibition in early 1957, anticipating formation of the Mikuláš Galanda Group at the first joint exhibition in December of that year in Žilina.
Let us go back twenty years and recall the words of Mikuláš Galanda at the opening of his exhibition in Prostějov in 1937: "An artist usually has a completely different relationship to his paintings than that of the audience or art critics.
Paintings are his love, and he sends them out into the world like his children – wondering if they will endure or fade away in the daily bustle of life. One should also bear in mind that a painting feels completely different in a studio than it does at an exhibition. Typically, it loses intimacy and atmosphere.
Curators: Martin Dostál, Martin Vančo
Artworks on display:
Full description and more information: SNG.sk.