Ratimir Vrdoljak: Art Exhibition

Venue: the Festival Hall in Jelsa’s Town Hall, 25.07.2022. – 08.08.2022.g.

Official opening 25.07.2022, 21:00

Ratimir Vrdoljak was born in Zagreb in 1943, but spent almost his whole life in France from childhood onwards. He fell in love at first sight with Dalmatia’s ‘sunniest island’ in 1995. immediately before ‘Operation Storm’ the decisive action in the ‘Homeland War’, when he stayed in the Palace Hotel in Hvar Town while travelling along the Adriatic coast with his wife Sylvia. During those wartime years the town was empty, devoid of tourists, and they particularly loved the scents, tastes and above all the people of Hvar Island. And the people loved them in return. After nearly three decades of loyalty to the island Ratimir became known throughout the island as ‘The Frenchman’.
On retiring from his job as manager of Europe’s biggest insurance company, Ratimir decided to spend his golden years in the most beautiful part of the island, in Vrbanj, in the island’s inland greenery. He built a stone house whose terrace gives a fine view over the Stari Grad Plain, Vrboska and Jelsa. This is the stone retreat and oasis where he spends about six months every year with his wife and family. He was so enraptured by the island that he felt the need to record its fantastic natural beauty to share with others. This led to him developing his love of painting, which he had not had time to pursue during his working years, even though he had always been blessed with artistic talent. So, at the age of 75, he began painting.
One of his first works was an interpretation of the view of the Hvar port, painted in 1866 by Franz Unger, Ratimir’s predecessor in terms of his love of the island. Unger was an Austrian botanist, paleontologist and Professor at the University of Graz, who was a founder of the Hvar Health Society (1868), which gave birth to modern tourism on the island.
Ratimir’s main focus, alongside the island themes in which stone and sea predominate, has always been his family. He is happiest when he succeeds in uniting his two loves – the island and his nearest and dearest – on the same canvas.
In their years living in France, Ratimir and Sylvia have become Hvar’s best ambassadors. Their love for this stony vessel and the experiences of the island’s scents and tastes have inspired many of their friends from Dijon to come to visit Hvar. And, naturally, they too were captivated by the delights of the island: one visit is always enough to make the visitor want to come again!