Alojz Klimo exhibition

The Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum invites you to the exhibition “Alojz Klimo: LOLO – Between Painting and Illustration,” running from April 1 to June 14, 2026.

In what ways did Klimo excel in the field of illustration?

It was his original artistic approach to illustrating children’s books. He chose collage as his medium—a technique that, while not new (modern art had been using it since Cubism), was very rarely employed in our country. From the very beginning, he gravitated toward a highly simplified artistic form that did not slavishly adhere to the depiction of details.

He uses roughly and irregularly cut and torn paper, from which he assembles forms with only approximate outlines. Humorous and grotesque interpretations also play a role here, such as the way he highlights eyes and limbs… He places greater importance on color. He allows patches of color to bleed on the paper, thereby achieving rich color layering. The aspect of color most closely links his illustrations with his free-form work. Even in his paintings, he uses a method of applying paint to an unprimed canvas covered with paper, which causes the paint to bleed.

The exhibition commendably highlights Alojz Klimo’s exceptional standing in Slovak modern art, including through his sometimes underappreciated illustrations for children’s books.

Eva Trojanová

Biography

Alojz Klimo (1922–2000). He first studied (from 1941 to 1945) at the Technical University in Bratislava in the Department of Drawing and Painting, and immediately afterward, until 1948, at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. He was not only an illustrator; in fact, his works are better known for their abstract, geometric-constructivist style. He also devoted himself to graphic art, monumental works, and the creation of spatial objects and toys. He illustrated nearly sixty books and picture books for children, such as Kristy Bendová’s Čačky hračky, Božena Němcová’s Kráľ času, and Jaroslava Blažková’s Ohňostroj pre deduška, as well as the book of folk lullabies Beliže mi, beli and Jozef Pavlovič’s Generál Guľôčka.

He was not afraid to incorporate abstraction, geometric constructions, various symbols and subtexts, and references to folk art into his illustrations. He often used colored collage as a technique, which creates a sense of mass in his images and adds volume to the perspective. His daughter Tamara Kolenčíková said of his collages: “He did it with a kind of knife, but it was different from today’s cutters—it was a curved blade. That’s why the edges remained so vivid.”

Curators: Eva Trojanová, Miloš Kopták, Mária Rojko, Ida Želinská

The exhibition was created in collaboration with TOTO! je galéria

Location: Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Čunovo, Slovakia

Date: from 01. 04. 2026 – 14. 06. 2026

Opening hours:

Monday – closed
Tuesday – Sunday from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Entrance fee:

Adults – 12 €
Family (2 adults and 2 students) – 25 €
Pensioners (over 62 years old) – 6 €
Students – 6 €
Children (under 6 years old) – Free
Members of the Danubiana Club – Free
Disabled persons, persons over 75 years old – Free

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