Ivan Grohar (1867 - 1911)

Grohar was born on 15th June 1867 in Spodnja Sorica and died on 19th April 1911 in Ljubljana. To begin with he studied with the painter M. Bradaška in Kranj (1888) and continued his studies with the Italian painter N. Milanesi in Zagreb (1888). Between 1892 and 1894 he attended the Provincial Drawing School in Graz; in 1895, on failing to enrol at the Vienna academy, he left for Munich, where he studied at the Ažbe School of Painting. From 1896 until his death
he lived and worked in Ljubljana, Škofja Loka and Vienna, but all this time he kept returning home. In 1901 he took on the duties of the cashier of the Slovene Art Society and actively participated in
the preparations of the exhibition of works by the Sava club, whose main protagonists were, apart from Grohar, Rihard Jakopič, Matija Jama and Matej Sternen <196> all four being characterized as Slovene impressionists. In 1994 his home at Sorica was adapted and arranged as a museum and a cultural centre. His main interest was painting and drawing and his small opus of landscapes, genre paintings, portraits and religious works includes some of the seminal works of Slovene modern art.