The richness of cultures in the images of Veno Pilon

Top highlights

• the exquisite oeuvre of Veno Pilon, one of the most important Slovenian expressionist painters
• industrial heritage captured in the images of Veno Pilon
• Veno Pilon's home (formerly a bakery), and bourgeois Ajdovščina in words and images

Not to be missed

• professional guidance in Slovenian, English and Italian
• opening hours: Tuesday to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm; Saturday and Sunday from 3 pm to 6 pm; closed: Mondays and holidays
• prices from €2.00

The Pilon Gallery displays a vast oeuvre by Veno Pilon. The permanent collection is designed to take the visitor on a journey through the stages of the artist's development in chronological order with parallels in various other visual genres. Established in 1973, the gallery grew around the legacy left to the town by the artist's son upon his father’s passing. Veno Pilon was a painter, graphic artist and photographer born in 1896 in Ajdovščina. One of the most important figures in Slovenian visual arts, he was a giant of Expressionism and remains a notable figure in European art history.

The Pilon Gallery regularly exhibits pieces by foreign and domestic artists, and accommodates a large collection of works by Pilon's friends. The gallery is set in two striking yellow and blue bourgeois houses. One of them was Pilon's home where his father operated a bakery. The renovation project was designed by the local architect Svetozar Križaj in keeping with the legacy of this place which earned him the Plečnik award for architecture. In the ground floor is a small gift shop with gallery publications and souvenirs.

A special place in the rich legacy of Veno Pilon belongs to the artist's depiction of bourgeois Ajdovščina and its industrial development in the early 20^th century. A large part of Pilon's later opus was  created in Paris. Thus, the permanent collection in the Pilon Gallery is indeed a unique homage to the richness of cultures.