Jan Sokol

Painter of roots and tradition

In the light of the village days of Kovačica, Sokol laid these foundations of naive art, creating a world where there was not only fieldwork but also traditions, custom, and ritual. His villagers were not just workers; they were becoming a part of a folk story that was passing through generations. Every painting was a witness to a life: weddings, funerals, and daily moments from a Slovak village. Painting was not just art for him but a piece of high ethnological value that talks about identity and roots of that area. So, at the end of his life, he believed in genre motives. He painted what he knew and lived through, leaving behind a world of tradition to live through colours and paintings.