Jan Šafránek exhibition

Come see the unique exhibition JAN ŠAFRÁNEK: ABOUT PEOPLE at Danubiana from September 3 to December 7, 2025.

The exhibition About People offers a cross-section of the work of painter Jan Šafránek, a globetrotter and keen observer who captures the world with exceptional and distinctive insight through his precise classical painting technique. In his lively and thoughtful compositions, he tirelessly records moments of everyday life from streets to markets, celebrations, cafes, bars, and galleries. His paintings capture both ordinary and absurd situations, always with a gentle, merciful irony that brings a smile and stimulates the imagination.

Šafránek’s painting style was fully formed as early as the 1960s, when, in addition to painting film panels, he mastered figurative painting with masterful ease. In the 1970s, Šafránek was active on the Prague alternative scene, participating in unofficial exhibitions and underground events. Signing Charter 77 was a turning point for him, leading to his emigration – first to Austria and later to Australia, from where he undertook extensive travels through Tasmania, New Zealand, the Pacific, and South America.

The author, who currently lives alternately in Prague and Vienna, reflects his rich cosmopolitan experiences in his works. Despite all the changes in geographical and personal circumstances, the painter’s central theme remains man and his stories, in which we always find Šafránka’s typical humor, empathy, and perspective.

“If the Italian trio of both Tomáš and Filippa from the Brancacci Chapel, the Flemish Bruegel, the South American Botero, and the North American Edward Hopper were to come together at one exhibition, the only thing missing from this timeless elite would be the Viennese Czech Jan Šafránek to complete the group.” This is how Lubomír Hromádka, a congenial collector of domestic and world art, aptly put it when, together with the equally renowned expert Jaroslav Kořán, they admired his first exhibition at the Gema Gallery in Prague thirty years ago. What they agreed on then still holds true today.

Biography

Jan Šafránek (born April 9, 1948, in Hradec Králové) is a Czech painter and illustrator who has devoted himself to figurative painting reflecting everyday life since his youth. In the 1970s, he created film posters in Hradec Králové and later in Prague, where he created ironic images of the reality of normalization and was actively involved in the alternative art scene. After signing Charter 77, he emigrated to Austria in 1979, where he studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He then lived in Sydney, where he devoted himself to graphic art and lithography and undertook extensive travels throughout America and the Pacific, which significantly influenced his work. Since 1990, he has lived and worked in Prague and Vienna. His works are part of numerous domestic and foreign collections.

The exhibition is held in cooperation with the Gema Gallery.
Curator: Tereza Petrželková

Location: Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Čunovo, Slovakia

Date: from  03. 09. 2025 – 07. 12. 2025

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

Here you will find all tips for EVENTS BRATISLAVA.