There are several new exhibitions at the National Gallery in Prague – among them there are two following:

1. “Jiří Kolář – Voilà la femme” – available at the Trade Fair Palace from 27.09.2024 to 26.01.2025

To mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of artist and poet Jiří Kolář (1914–2002), the National Gallery Prague has prepared a graphic arts cabinet devoted to his collages from the 1960s and 1970s made from reproductions of famous works of art. A gripping mosaic of art history has been turned by the artist into a story of 20th-century visual art that is at once personal and a universal testimony to the times. Collages from the National Gallery’s collections that have never been exhibited before are on display.

The history of Kolář’s collages provides a reminder of what it was like for a man to live in a world weighed down by dictatorship. As the 1970s gave way to a new decade, Jiří Kolář left the country along with his wife Běla and settled in Paris. Běla Kolářová then returned from France to Czechoslovakia in order to forestall the confiscation of their property, and for several years found herself forbidden to leave the country again. It is to Běla Kolářová and her journey that this modest exhibition is dedicated. Kolář was convicted in absentia for emigrating and despite his and his wife’s efforts several works from his collection were transferred to the National Gallery in Prague as property forfeited to the state. After the Velvet Revolution Jiří Kolář donated the confiscated works to the gallery and became the first patron of the Society of Friends of the National Gallery in Prague.

More information: https://www.ngprague.cz/en/event/4163/jiri-kolar-voila-la-femme

2. “Salome: Femme Fatale of Symbolism and Decadence” – available at the Trade Fair Palace from 27.09.2024 to 12.01.2025

The biblical Salome was a Jewish princess who, as a reward for the sensual dance she performed for King Herod, demanded the head of St John the Baptist. For artists at the turn of the twentieth century, she embodied the dangerous femme fatale who captivated men with her seductiveness. This Graphic Arts Cabinet presents the theme of Salome in French artworks (Pablo Picasso), but chiefly it shows how the theme spread in Czech lands through the drawings and prints made by the members of the Sursum Artistic Association (Josef Váchal, František Kobliha, and Jan Konůpek) as well as in the prints made by painters from the Die Pilger art group (August Brömse and Norbert Hoschsieder).

More information: https://www.ngprague.cz/en/event/4164/salome-femme-fatale