The exhibition offers over one hundred and thirty works comprising oils, temperas, drawings in pencil, sketches and preparatory studies, large canvases and small paintings. Some of these works have never been on public display before and, completed by the Bosnian artist during the last ten years of his activity, represent a dramatic, extraordinary protagonist of figurativeness today.

Endowed with exceptional, precocious talent, Zec goes back to classical ancestors: Tintoretto, Palma the Younger, Caravaggio and Freud; he shows not only the linguistic confidence of his ancient teachers but also the eager studies of a solitary researcher combined with a craze for experimentation. Whether finished or unfinished, the quantity and quality of his work is surprising, but its transparency is crystal clear, the control complete, and it is all totally lucid and rational. Furthermore, Safet Zec is, perhaps, the most important representative of reflection on the tragedy of a people and the endless possibilities of painting that can participate in both their suffering, and provide poetical interpretations of an everyday life.

Exhibition curated by Giandomenico Romanelli in collaboration with Pascal Bonafoux.

Catalogue by Skira, curated by Giandomenico Romanelli.

The exhibition is being carried out with the support of the Galerija SOL di Lubiana .