Ivan Štefanek, Autumn, oil on glass, year 1992, signed and dated lower right, framed, dimensions: 54 x 44 cm (+ frame 10 cm).

IVAN ŠTEFANEK, painter of idyllic landscapes... He was born on March 30, 1942, in Zagorje, Croatia. He has been painting since 1965. He started painting on hardboard and canvas, but when he saw Ivan Generalić's paintings for the first time, he decided to use glass. He was coached by Ivan Lacković-Croata and Dragan Gaži. He had several solo and more than a hundred group exhibitions at home and abroad. Ivan Štefanek is a painter who belongs to the circle of the Hlebin school, but differs in many ways in his expression. This peculiarity is most evident in the colors, which are different from those of the Podravina painters (they are closer to those of Rabuzin) and in the sharp strokes of the brush. Thematically it is very diverse, and the color harmony speaks of a painter in love with the nature that surrounds him and offers all its playfulness, but his main subjects are landscapes with water, birds and other animals. A picture of a landscape that almost no longer exists. Ivan Štefanek created his own style and is known to lovers of the naive as a painter of idyllic landscapes. In his paintings, it is as if the earthly paradise has returned again.