Mikuláš Medek - Nahý v trní

The retrospective exhibition of the painter Mikulás Medek is among the most extensive shows at the National Gallery Prague. In addition to the Waldstein Riding School, which presents the autonomous part of Medeks paintings from the beginning to the end of his career, Medeks works for the churches in Jedovnice, Kotvrdovice, and Senetásov are together exhibited in the Convent of Saint Agnes for the first time ever. Medeks large works for Czechoslovak Airlines are displayed in the Trade Fair Palace. The exhibition is more than just evaluating Medeks works in retrospect. It is expanded by the artists previously unknown artworks and films discovered in his estate, the works of the artists who influenced him and with whose art he dealt (Toyen, Dalí, Teige), and the works of his contemporaries whom he befriended and collaborated with in art exhibitions (Sekal, Istler, Koblasa, Piesen, and Boudník). During his short life, Mikulás Medek (1926-1974) produced a large painting oeuvre that made a substantial shift, starting with his early Expressionist and Cubist works, passing through his original understanding of Surrealism and Existentialism to an expression called art informel, which touched upon abstraction, to eventually return to figuration. He developed his own philosophical concept of a painting as a view of the view that helped him absorb Mannerism and employ original architectural morphology toward the end of his life. The depth of his artistic expression, the broadness of his artistic scope, and the ability to generalise the variable feelings of the time rates him among the most illustrious Czech painters. He always took his own path; his attitude was strong enough to resist the various artistic and social pressures of the time.