Karol Miloslav Lehotský

The mystic and wanderer of Slovak painting. He was born in Lalić, in the Slovak lowlands of Vojvodina, the seventh of nine children of a teacher and patriot; after studies in Sombor he was admitted to the Prague Academy on the recommendation of Václav Brožík — he studied under Maxmilián Pirner (1897 – 1899) and briefly at the Vienna Academy. From 1900 he alternated between Bačka, Novi Sad, Ružomberok and Martin, where he painted portraits of Hurban, Mudroň and Pauliny-Tóth for the local museum.

He painted portraits, landscapes and religious-mystical compositions and was a member of the Group of Hungarian-Slovak Painters. In 1928 he presented himself for the last time at the exhibition of portraits of Slovak writers in Martin; early in 1929 he moved to Brno, where he died after a short illness. He is buried in the Central Cemetery in Brno; his birthplace in Lalić bears a memorial plaque.