Tone Kralj’s religious art in the Littoral

Abstract

In the period between the interwar years and several decades after the Second World War, Tone Kralj’s religious artworks greatly transformed the interiors of churches in the Littoral, as it was delineated during the Second World War, including four churches in the Ilirska Bistrica area, specifically, in Prem, Ilirska Bistrica, and Podgraje. While continuously imbuing his works for the said churches with notes of Slovenian vernacular culture, in a few scenes the painter also expressed his direct criticism of the occupier’s violence against the Slovenian people. Kralj’s postwar paintings that addressed the same topic played an important role in preserving the memory of wartime events that unfolded on Slovenian soil.