Informal Art | Surrealism | Art Brut
The Hidden Treasure: Slavko Kopač – Informal Art, Surrealism, Art Brut
12.9.2025 – 13.11.2025
Tuesday to Sunday:
10:00 AM to 1:00 PM / 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Monday: Closed
Free admission
Exhibition Hall of the Accademia delle Arti dell Disegno
Via Ricasoli 68, Florence
The exhibition The Hidden Treasure: Slavko Kopač – Informal Art, Surrealism, Art Brut, at the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, highlights a fundamental chapter in the history of 20th-century art through the work of Slavko Kopač (1913-1995). Eighty years after his first solo exhibition in Florence at the Galleria Michelangelo in Via Porta Rossa in 1945, the exhibition retraces the extraordinary career of this Franco-Croatian artist, an enigmatic and complex figure who embodied the innovative and interdisciplinary spirit of an era of cultural rebirth from the ruins of the postwar period. The exhibition is organized around two central moments: the Florentine period, which marks the maturation of Kopač’s artistic language, and the Parisian period, during which the artist emerged as a pivotal figure at the crossroads of Surrealism, Informal Art, and Art Brut.
Through a selection of oils, drawings, watercolors, artist’s books, poems, engravings, collages, assemblages, and ceramics, spanning the period from the postwar years to the 1960s, the exhibition reveals Kopač’s extraordinary versatility, as he moved seamlessly between painting, sculpture, mixed media, and material experimentation, continually reinventing his expressive language. Through this rich selection of works and archival materials, the exhibition explores Kopač’s connections with the artists and movements that defined the 20th century, reconstructing the cultural context and the networks of exchange that shaped his artistic evolution. Particular focus is placed on Florence as a cultural crossroads, which played a key role in fostering artistic dialogue between Italy and France. The exhibition underscores the interdisciplinary dimension and creative intensity of this pivotal historical moment, whose legacy continues to profoundly influence the contemporary art scene.
Like Jean Dubuffet, André Breton, or Max Ernst, Kopač explores a visual language aimed at delving into the archetypal roots of human experience. His work unfolds within a creative tension that reflects both the chaos and fragmentation of the postwar period and a deep need to reconnect with the playful, primal, and collective essence of art as a universal and timeless act. The exhibition display therefore is precisely in the service of telling Kopač’s visual language which he invented through a lifetime of artistic creation.
Roberta Trapani in collaboration with Pietro Nocita
Fabrice Flahutez, Pauline Goutain, Roberta Serpolli
Association ArtRencontre in collaboration with Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Florence.
Kopač trained at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, the successor to the Royal National College of Arts and Crafts founded in 1907. In a context deeply influenced by the Viennese Secession and the ideals of the Bauhaus, Kopač absorbed the cultural stimuli of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. At just 15 years old, he was profoundly struck by a monograph on Egon Schiele, which became a decisive source of inspiration for him.
After completing his studies and participating in the 1942 Venice Biennale, in 1943, in the midst of the war, Slavko Kopač arrived in Florence, a city where the Renaissance heritage coexisted with a burgeoning drive toward modernity. Enrolling at the Accademia di Belle Arti, he immersed himself in a rich and dynamic cultural environment, which led him to progressively abandon the Impressionism of his early paintings and embark on a quest for formal innovation and the expressive intensity of color.
In 1948, Slavko Kopač settled in Paris, the undisputed capital of European art in the postwar period. There, he immediately came into contact with key avant-garde figures such as Jean Dubuffet and André Breton. This placed him at the heart of major artistic debates, but true to his independent nature, Kopač chose to remain on the margins of official movements, preserving his creative autonomy.
His collaboration with Jean Dubuffet led to a deep involvement in the project of the Collection de l’Art Brut, a revolutionary initiative that elevated the art of outsiders and posed a radical reflection on the very origins of art. Although he worked as a curator, Kopač transformed this experience into a source of personal inspiration, incorporating the instinctive and unconventional approaches of Art Brut creators into his own artistic practice.
The artist also interacted with Surrealism, finding a natural affinity between his own imagery and the poetic universe of the movement. Although he did not formally join the group, his works were deeply appreciated by the Surrealists for their ability to evoke fantastic and totemic worlds, earning the admiration of André Breton, who welcomed it into his collection.
Over time, Kopač deepened his exploration of materials, experimenting with their expressive potential through innovative solutions: enamels on volcanic stone, melted lead shaped into floral forms and fragments of tires transformed into a fantastical creature. This approach impressed critics and artists such as Michel Tapié, who identified in Kopač’s works a dialogue with artists like Jackson Pollock, Lucio Fontana, and Sam Francis.
hiddentreasure@slavkokopac.com
Sala delle Esposizioni dell'Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Via Ricasoli 68 50122 Firenze, FI