Milan Laluha was born on 11th November in 1930, Tekovské Lužany and died on 10th November 2013 in Bratislava. He spent his childhood in Dolná Mičiná, where he lived with his aunt, who was the local teacher. In 1950 – 1955, he studied at the University of Fine Arts in Bratislava (under professors Fulla, Zmeták, Hoffstädter, and Milly). In 1957, he became one of the founding members of the Mikuláš Galanda group. In 1966, he was awarded the Osvald Liccini award at the XXXVIII. Biennale in Venice. Some of his stand-alone exhibitions (selection): Bratislava (1962 – Cyprián Majerník Gallery, 1966 – Gallery of the City of Bratislava, 1969 – Gallery of Youth, Municipal Gallery, 1997 – Slovak National Gallery), Brno (1966 –J. Král Gallery), Berlin (1966 – Landengalerie), Nitra (1967 –Gallery of Nitra), Krnov (1978 – Municipal Museum), Trenčín (1984 – Gallery of M. A. Bazovský) and Martin (1990 – Turiec Gallery). Undisputed contribution of Milan Laluha in terms of style and art is based on his key role in the rise of the new generation of young painters in 1957 – as declared in their manifesto published in the Mladá fronta daily newspaper (2nd year). Laluha’s style-setting direction can be identified also in the heritage of the Private Letters of Fulla and Galanda from 1930 – 1931 as well as in his reaction to Russian modern artists from the early years of the 20th century (Larionov, Goncharova, Malevich). Laluha searched for symbiosis between the patriarchal and rustic image of Slovak essence and modern morphology leaning on cubism, geometric stylisation and colouristic expression. First signs of Laluha’s mature style start to appear in the mid 1960s in the form of reduced colour scale, geometrical or robust elements and in the shapes of stylised volume. In his painting, Laluha uses shades of tones within a single colour, rhythmic treatment of surface and simplified drawing. His iconography is minimalistic, reduced to visual imagination related to the village of Mičiná, its population and traditions. Laluha produces series of theme variations (referring to the source of inspiration as his “bazovskô”) during the whole 1970s to 1990s. Along with painting, Laluha also produced alternatives in pastels and drawings including unique ironizing self-portraits. Bibliography: Matuštík, R.: Slovenské moderné maliarstvo 1945 – 1963. Bratislava 1965; Matuštík, R. Nové slovenské výtvarné umenie. Bratislava 1969; Hrabušický, A.: 60. roky. Výtvarný život, 39, 1994, č. 2, s. 4 – 7, č. 3, s. 90 – 94; Kubíková, K.: Milan Laluha. Kat. výst. SNG 1997; Kol. autorov: Milan Laluha. Slovenský Tatran, Bratislava 1997.