Mijo Kovačić (Gornja Šuma, 1935 - 2020), Winter landscape, painting on glass (oil), sealed, approx. 1970, nice frame, dimensions: 50 x 44 cm, dimensions with frame: 68 x 62 cm.

One of the most important Croatian naive painters. Even as a child, he showed an extraordinary talent for painting, but his family could not afford him further education. At the age of eighteen, he met the already established painter Ivan Generalić in the neighboring village of Hlebine. In 1954, Kovačić had his first exhibition. He exhibited at 300 collective and around 100 solo exhibitions around the world.

Kovačić is one of the painters of the so-called second generation of the Hlebinsk school of naive painting and has created a well-rounded, personal and highly recognizable oeuvre, with authentic elements of rich, colorful, dynamic composition and dramatic narrative. He made watercolors on paper and drew with ink, and in his more mature phase he painted on glass, using large oils. Three monographs have been written about him. He exhibited with the painters Generalič and Večenaj on the famous tour of Croatian naive art, which conquered the world in the 1970s. He is the winner of many awards, is present in all monographs of Croatian naive painting and is considered one of the most important Croatian naive painters.