The desire of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design to form their own art collection dates back a long time, since the first years after its establishment in 1945. The year of 1949 first saw the idea begin with an accession of works of art from the Federal Collection Centre, gradually acquiring them, gaining donations, purchasing the awarded student or graduate student works or works made at student colonies. The idea was based on the current practices of the art academies, joined with the galleries of important works of art, such as the collections with a centuries-long tradition of the academies in Venice and Vienna. Throughout the almost 80 years of the Academy’s operation, a total of 94 important works of art from Slovenian artists, some of them being Academy professors, were added to the initial collection of about 200 works of old masters that came from the Federal Collection Centre. Today, the collection also includes about 200 student paintings and sculptures and about 80,000 student prints, some of them very rare. We are pleased to have enriched the collection with some exceptional donations from artists Bogoslav Kalaš, Lojze Logar, Branko Suhy, Zvest Apollonio and others. Since November 2014, an important part of the Academy’s collection has been kept in storage at the MGML (Museum and Galleries of the City of Ljubljana). In 2020, intensive efforts were launched to arrange a collection of student graphics.
The collection consists of: Authors of the 20th and 21st Century, Old Masters painting, Student Art Prints and Other Students Art Works.
Head of the Collection: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nadja Zgonik
Collection Curator: Tch. Asst. Gregor Kokalj
