The paintings by Zvonimir Mihanović belong to that current of modern painting that strives to restore the bonds with the artistic tradition on one hand, and on the other, to establish clear and indisputable connections with real surroundings. In different milieus, the contemporary examples of that style were given various names: “hyperrealism”, “photo realism”, “radical realism”. Mihanović also belongs to this multi-named family of painters, but only formally. He is a realist when he paints objects made by man’s hand (boats, houses); but when he depicts natural elements and phenomena (sea, sky, light) – works of God’s hand – he records only chosen moments of the day, “and never rainy or stormy weather” (Melville). Mihanović is not, like the Impressionists were, an avid meteorologist: more than real he likes ideal weather. No clouds gather over his landscapes or cover the sky. The light of the low sun envelops his world and by its gentle and slanting rays creates in the mirror-like sea reflections that seem as real and tangible as the objects themselves. On the clear background of the sky there are no shadows, or reflections, or projections: only the sharp contours of the painter’s “Fishing Village” draw a line which separates concrete, geographical space from a space universal and metaphysical. Mihanović’s boats are etched with traces of wear; the walls of his houses bear the signature of time. While, to the contrary, the sky and the sea appear as spheres of undisturbed peace which, like an aura, surround and consecrate the sites of the painter’s true Dalmatian homeland.

Igor Zidić
Director, Modern Gallery, Zagreb
Editor, Matica Hrvatska, Publishing