Art Map of Europe. Do You Know Which Artist Represents Slovakia?

Art Map of Europe. Do You Know Which Artist Represents Slovakia?

An ingenious cartographer created a map of Europe showing famous works of art according to where their artists came from. In total, you can see 44 examples of paintings and sculptures placed across all corners of Europe. It’s a fascinating project that also works wonderfully as a visual learning aid.

The oldest work shown comes from Greece, in the form of a rare statue of Aphrodite, sculpted by Alexandros of Antioch around 130–100 BC. Among the best-known are Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (representing Italy), Edvard Munch’s famous The Scream from Norway, Picasso’s Guernica from Spain, and The Creation of Adam from the Vatican.

We looked into which artists the graphic artist assigned to Czechia and Slovakia. We were very surprised, and we think you might have your own guess, too.

The Czech artist featured on the map is illustrator and painter Viktor Oliva, who lived in Austria-Hungary in the 19th and 20th centuries. He became famous for his work The Absinthe Drinker (in Czech: Piják absintu), which still hangs proudly on the wall of the historic Café Slavia in Prague. He worked in the Art Nouveau style, also known as Secession, whose best-known representative is Alfons Mucha.

The ingenious cartographer assigned Slovakia a somewhat “younger” artist, Albín Brunovský. Not everyone may recognize his name, but a look at old Czechoslovak banknotes will surely bring his remarkable work to mind.

Brunovský was a representative of Imaginative Realism and also taught at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. He designed many books and, in addition to stamps and banknotes, illustrated several fairy-tale books, earning numerous awards in competitions around the world.

His works combine surrealism with a command of classical graphic techniques. Students and followers of this Slovak artist also designed the last series of Slovak koruna banknotes.

What do you think of this selection? Do you have a favorite among Slovak artists, or would you have chosen someone else for the map?

We hope this project inspired you. Which artist do you think is the greatest icon of our region? Let us know in the comments.

Ingrid