Painting 2025
Painting Competition – VÚB Foundation Prize for a Painting Work by Young Artists has, over the past two decades, become one of the most prominent initiatives supporting and promoting contemporary visual art in Slovakia.
This year again, we present the most outstanding talents among young professional painters in Slovakia and bring their art closer to the general public.
We invite you to the Nedbalka Gallery for the finalists’ exhibition, taking place from 19 September to 26 October 2025.
From more than 100 applicants, the international jury of renowned experts selected 20 finalists, once again including a significant share of new names. Ten debutants have been given the opportunity to present their works through this widely followed platform.
This year, the following artists are competing for the prestigious award (in alphabetical order): Zuzana Badinková, Adam Baník, Dávid Bátora, Martina Červenková, Daša Ďurišová, Michal Fízik, Marianna Franková, Paula Gogola, Paulína Halasová, Ľubomíra Chylová Sekerášová, Daniela Illéšová, Samuel Kollárik, Alžbeta Martof Pavčová, Jakub Mlynarčík, Ivana Mojšová, Alexandra Pradidová, Nikola Šušovicová, Šimon Tóth, János Vámos and Eva Vaňová.
The competing works are evaluated each year by a professional jury assembled in a unique composition. Distinguished representatives of both the Slovak and international art scenes ensure that the competition always gives space to the objectively best among the applicants. For the 20th edition, the jury includes Klara Kemp-Welch, art historian from the United Kingdom, Giovanni Morale, critic and historian from Italy, renowned Slovak visual artist Roman Ondak, and acclaimed Slovak painter Andrej Dúbravský, whose professional career was closely connected with the Painting Competition.
“We are delighted to celebrate this year’s jubilee, the twentieth edition of the competition, which is among the longest-running initiatives of the VÚB Foundation. We have always valued the feedback received from painters along this journey. It clearly shows that reaching the finals or winning the award brings artists prestige and recognition that open doors to the top league of the art world. For us, it is a great honour and at the same time a commitment for the future,” says Lucia Luptáková, Manager of the VÚB Foundation. Over the course of its history, the VÚB Foundation has recognised nearly 50 artists, awarding a total of EUR 400,000 in prizes.
This year as well, the VÚB Foundation will support the best artists with a total of EUR 30,000. At the same time, it will once again make the 20 best paintings accessible to the public through a free exhibition. The works of the finalists and further information about the Painting Competition 2025 are available at www.malba.nadaciavub.sk.
Still Lifes from the Nedbalka Gallery´s Collection
Bringing together the works that have not been included in the Gallery´s permanent exposition, the exhibition presents the genre of still life in the context of modern Slovak art.
Lucia Dovičáková – The I Feel Like…
Lucia Dovičáková’s work has been resonating on the Slovak art scene for eighteen years, and together with the artist it has reached a clear definition of a strong authorial programme that has a woman and her image in its centre.
Three Times Čutek
Three Times Čutek exhibition represents almost seventy years of the creative effort of three generations of the Čutek family of sculptors in the selection of works from the most significant periods of their creation; it also illustrates their inter-generational relationships.
Painting 2022
Twenty finalists, from which three winners will emerge in the autumn, have been carefully selected by the jury.
Ľudovít Fulla – Fragments
The exhibition Ľudovít Fulla – FRAGMENTS examines different periods of artist´s oeuvre through the works from the collections of the Nedbalka Gallery
Marián Čunderlík – Struggling for a new vision
Through his early figural work, Čunderlík became an imaginary connection between a modern tradition of Slovak painting and the non-tradition of abstract tendencies.
Magical Moments
The exhibition of photographs by Peter Paško, Palo Luka, Peter Nižňanský and Julo Nagy, titled “Magical Moments”, is documentation of photo trips to almost all continents made between 2006 and 2016.
Painting 2021
Twenty finalists, from which three winners will emerge in the autumn, have been carefully selected by the jury.