Abstract
The interwar work of Václav Špála is considered to be the essence of the “national art” of the First Czechoslovak Republic. Its emblematic manifestation is the extensive series depicting the Otava River from 1929 and 1930. The paper focuses on the painting On the Otava River (1929) from the collection of the Gallery of Fine Arts in Cheb. It has an exceptional position within it, both in terms of its formal qualities and overall concept. Špála himself was aware of this and never sold it, and the painting was acquired by the Cheb gallery in 1966 from his estate. The uniqueness of the painting is also underlined by its exhibition history: in 1937, Václav Nebeský selected it for the accompanying exhibition to EXPO 37 in Paris, L’art moderne tchécoslovaque at the Charpentier Gallery, twenty years later it was one of only five works representing Czechoslovakia at the international exhibition 50 Years of Modern Art at EXPO 58 in Brussels, together with the works of Emil Filla, František Kupka, Josef Šíma and Otto Gutfreund.
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