Fred Vesel - Paintings (1861 - 1946)

Ferdo Vesel was one of the most important Slovenian painters, who was born on May 18th 1861, he died in Ljubljana on July 28th 1946. Vesel was working with landscaping, portraiture and folklore genre. His art works were torn between realistic and impressionist style. Painter Josip Potočnik was his student. From year 1906 on he lived a weird life in Grumlof pri Šentpavlu, here he artistically stagnated. Primary school in Šentvid pri Stični was named after him, Primary school Ferdo Vesel.

He studied in Ljubljana secondary school, he continued on Wien’s academy. His life and work took place in the circle of Ivana Kobilica, Rihard Jakopič, Jožef Petkovšek and Anton Ažbet. Vesel travelled around Europe a lot, as his unruly artistic spirit could not calm down and to settle. After he returned, he moved to Mekinje monastery at Kamnik, in year 1901 he came to the small castle Grumlof, which became his home. Soon after the Second World War started, and, together with Ivan Cankar, he shared his hard fate in internment. In year 1917 he returned to Lower Carniola to his small castle. In troubled times of search he caught up with modern waves of Slovenian painting, which encouraged him towards spontaneous painting expression. In year 1938, when the Second World War started that brought with it a lot of suffering and tragic events, Vesel was at Grumlof. Soon he moved to Ljubljana, where in year 1946, he died.

He was picturesque, he had instinctive painting character, his personality was diverse problem-wise, and he was a restless researcher of new places and painting expressions. He tore himself from petty bourgeoisie and went to study, instead of going to work he choose the life of a freelance artist. He judged his work very strictly, as for him art was hard and trudge work, something unique. Because of that he parted with his paintings with great pain, he was very reluctantly to sell them.

Ferd Vesel's first verified exhibition was the 2nd Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Citta di Venezia 1897 at La Biennale di Venezia in Venice in 1897, and the most recent exhibition was The Slovenian Impressionists and Their Time 1890–1920 at the National Gallery of Slovenia in Ljubljana in . In 2008, Ferdo Vesel most often exhibited in Slovenia, but he also had exhibitions in Italy. Wessel has had at least one solo and 3 group shows in the last 111 years (see bio for more info). Wessel was also not at an art fair, but at a biennial. A notable exhibition was the 2nd Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Citta di Venezia 1897 at La Biennale di Venezia in Venice in 1897. Other notable exhibitions were at the Murska Sobota Gallery in Murska Sobota and the National Gallery of Slovenia in Ljubljana. Ferdo Wessel exhibited with Ivan Kobilac and Jean Bero. Ferda Vesel's art is in at least two museum collections, in the National Gallery of Slovenia in Ljubljana and the Nadežda Petrović Art Gallery in Čačak.

Wessel's best rank was in 1898, with the most dramatic change in 2013. For a complete illustration of the artist's career since 1897, see the career chart on the trends page.