Gallery of fine arts in Zadar

Gallery of Fine Arts was founded after WWII on October 10, 1948 in a wholly devastated city. From it’s founding date up to 1963 it was an independent institution. It is the first institution of its kind in Zadar that is engaged in collecting, preserving and presenting artistic material for the most part dating from the XXth century.
Without figurative art activity and lacking a tradition there was nothing to begin with. Due to unfortunate historical reasons, figurative art in Zadar, in contradistinction to cities where contemporary figurative art is a continuation of a powerful artistic tradition, does not stem out of a continuous development. That is why the idea to found a Gallery of Art was inestimable. The initial holdings of 80 works has grown through acquisitions and donations to 1.700 art objects. About 30.000 negatives of Ante Brkan’s photo-reporting opus have to be added to this number.