Great Czech painter Věra Nováková dies at 96

The Czech painter Věra Nováková has died at the age of 96. Nováková, who was also a sculptor and book illustrator, is considered one of the most original Czech artists of the 20th century.

Born in 1928, she was expelled from art school in Prague a year after the Communist takeover. She married another hugely respected artist, Pavel Brázda, in 1950 and the pair worked mainly outside official structures for the next four decades. Her first major exhibition took place after the Velvet Revolution.

“I went through almost the entire 20th century and experienced two totalitarian systems – Hitler’s and Stalin’s. Four years after the end of the war, I was expelled from the Academy of Fine Arts because I did not fit for building a socialist paradise, which was true,” Věra Nováková said in 2022.