115. The Art Collection of Ante and Wiltrud Topić Mimara

The next museum to visit is the wonderful Mimara - situated in the central part of the city - and housing the collection of artworks - dating from the prehistoric period up to the 20th century - donated to the city in 1973 by Wiltrud and Ante Topic Mimara. Its full official name is the "Art Collection of Ante and Wiltrud Topić Mimara". 

That's right - an entire museum of world art built around one single donated collection ...

The Museum is housed in the remarkable architectural 19th century palace that was originally built as the "Lower Town high schools complex". The galleries are situated on the three floors in the central part of the complex which had, until the 1980s time housed the high school. Today the High School is in the northern wing, while the Elementary School occupies the southern wing, sharing it with the First Private Art High School. 

Mimara was opened as a public museum in 1987 and the vast collection includes 60 paintings by the Dutch masters, 50 works by the Flemish, more than 30 by the Spanish masters, some 20 paintings by the German masters, some 30 paintings by the English painters and more than 120 paintings by the French masters. Also in the Museum is a sizeable collection of sculptures, glass ware, ceramics, metalworks and other 3D artworks - all collected by the Mimaras from cultures around the world.

The top floor galleries are devoted to the painting collection - featuring works from the Gothic era of 13-14th centuries through the Renaissance of 16th century, Baroque periods of 17th century and European paintings from 18th 19th and early 20th centuries. 

And today's blog will feature just a small portion of the hundreds of paintings exhibited in the dozens of galleries running the full length of the palace. Unfortunately many of the title cards are in the Croatian language only - so I cannot name some of the artists etc. without spending hours consulting Google Translate !!! - my apologies to the museum and the artists.

Hieronymus Bosch


Flemish Masters


Raffaellino del Garbo. Krug

Jacob Adriaensz Backer

Jan van de Cappelle

Govaert Flinck

Aelbert Cuyp

Meindert Hobbema

Diego Velazquez

Jeanne-Philiberte Ledoux

Sebastiano Ricci

Francesco Simonini

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

Adolphe Gustave Binet

Edouard Manet

Edouard Manet

Edgar Degas

Camille Pissarro

Camille Pissarro

Camille Pissarro

Georges Seurat

Ante Mimara ( 1898 - 1985 ) was not all that fond of 20th century art so his collection of paintings went no later than the very early 1900s.

In my next blog I will feature some of the wonderful 3D works exhibited on the other two floors of this exciting Museum.