‘A contemporary war painter should crawl into the trenches at the front-line, go as a soldier against the enemy in order to experience the fighting beneath and above the ground, in the air and under water. The colours that the painter uses in modern war are now grey–green. Strong colours infused with gold from former times have now given up their place to the grey of war.’

Oton Iveković, war painter, 1915

The Collection of Paintings, Prints and Sculptures of the Croatian History Mu­seum holds over two hundred works of art connected to the First World War. Most of those were collected during 1919 after a plea made by the director of the Department of Archaeology and History of the Croatian National Museum, Dr Viktor Hoffiler, to military commanders after the new state was constituted, asking that military companies give various objects connected to the old regime to the National Museum. In this way, the Museum acquired various objects, paint­ings, prints and sculptures from the 5^th Uhlan Regiment from Varaždin, the 16^th Infantry Regiment from Bjelovar, the 27^th Infantry Regiment from Sisak, the 31^st Jäger Battalion, the 42^nd Landwehr Infantry Division and the 53^rd Infantry Regiment from Zagreb, the 96^th Infantry Regiment from Karlovac and the Cadet School at Kamenica. Some of these donations were shown at the Museum exhibition I Gave Gold for Iron, held in 2006 (catalogue published in 2011). Commemorating the hundred years from the beginning of the First World War, a number of works from that rich collection was chosen, and most of them are now exhibited for the first time. These exhibits present war as seen through the eyes of painters, sculptors and graphic artists. The exhibition is grouped into segments that focus on monarchs, allies and enemies, commanders and ranking officers, members of various military units, depictions of battles on various fronts, as well as a segment on war artists and a multimedia display of works dealing with civilian life created during the war. Ranging in quality from first-rate to almost amateurish, they rep­resent a valuable source for studying various aspects of that first great conflict in recent history.

Exhibition units:
The Emperor and his Heirs, Allies and Enemies, High - Ranking Military Officers
Officers and Soldiers
War Propaganda
Croatian War Artists in the Museum Collection (Anđelko Kaurić, Bogumil Car, Robert Frangeš Mihanović, Oton Iveković and Oskar Artur Alexander)

EXHIBITION DEVISED BY
Marina Bregovac Pisk

VISUAL SET UP
Ana Filep

MULTIMEDIA
Zdenka Šinkić

PHOTOGRAPHER
Ivana Mora Asić

SOUND DESIGN
Vjeran Šalamon

June 12^th 2014 – January 11^th 2015