Vincenc Benes (January 22, 1883 in Lisicece near Chlumec nad Cidlinou - March 27, 1979 in Prague) painter

He studied at secondary school in Hradec Kralove 1896-1902, where he became friends with Bohumil Kubista. Then at the School of Applied Arts in Prague 1902-1904 under E..Dite, E.K. Liska and in February 1904 transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts to the all-round school led by Vlaho Bukovac, then to landscape painting
specialties of R.von Ottenfeld. In the autumn of 1907, a study trip to Dresden, Berlin, Munich and Paris, he learned the work of H.Matisse, van Gogh, Vuillard, Toulouse-Lautrec, etc. After returning in March 1908, he stayed at the Academy until the end of the school year. He participated in the 2nd exhibition of the Eighth 1908, in the years 1908-1909 shared a joint studio with B. Kubištou, with whom he was in close working contact until 1910 and often succumbed to his artistic views. Member of the Manes Association of Fine Artists since 1909, after leaving the youth of Manes (February 1911), he became a member of the Group of Fine Artists until 1914. He published in the Art Monthly 1911-1913. Together with Otakar Nejedly he founded a private painting school in Prague in 1913. He entered the SVU Mánes again in 1917. With Otakar Nejedlý he painted to order the National Liberation Monument
French battlefields in 1919. In the 1920s and 1930s he undertook a number of study trips abroad - to Italy (1922,1924), Dalmatia (1919,1931-1934), Paris (1931,1935-1937). Since the mid-1920s annually he went to Pisek to paint the South Bohemian landscape, painted in the Turnov area (1923-1924) and in the surroundings of Libechov (1926). Since 1933 member of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts. The beginnings of his work were shaped by a joint effort of members of the Osma focused on the search for modern expression (1908-1910), compared to the peers of Osma he represented a type of sensually focused painter, which was confirmed by later development of his work beginning in 1915. works associated with his work in the Group (1911-1914) the end of his cubism is the composition Military Funeral. Capturing experiences of nature and life came to the forefront. Impressions of color and light represent his later works. The change in attitude was also related to a change in the way of work,
began painting in the open air. He was returning to his own origins and heritage of A. Slavicek, Bonnard, Corot, late Derain, and Matisse. Figural paintings from the years 1922-1924 show the response of the period neoclassicism, monumental solutions include some landscapes from these years. Color was increasingly used, and the manuscript became more loose until it became the bearer of the impressive connection of color and light. In 1952 he won a competition to decorate the foyer of the National Theater in Prague. In 1954 he received the nomination of a meritorious artist and in 1963 a national artist. Abroad, he was awarded prizes and honors in 1924 at the Carnegie Institute, 1935 in Brussels, 1937 in Paris. He has had collective and collective exhibitions in many Czech, Moravian and foreign cities and institutions. He is represented in the collections of the National Gallery in Prague, the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava, the Czech Museum of Fine Arts and all regional galleries and museums. His works can also be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.