Pop Art – The Infeld Collection

The Croatian Museum of Tourism, in cooperation with the Infeld Collection from Vienna, presents the exhibition “POP ART – INFELD COLLECTION” at the “Juraj Šporer” Art Pavilion in Opatija. This extensive and highly valuable exhibition features forty-two original works by ten of the world’s most prominent representatives of American and European Pop Art, providing a comprehensive insight into the diverse approaches, poetics, and techniques of a movement that shaped the art scene and popular culture of the 20th century.

About the Movement: Historical Context, Revolution, and Iconography

Pop Art (derived from the expression popular art) emerged in the 1950s in the United States and Great Britain, reaching its peak during the 1960s. Following the horrors of the Second World War, rapid technological progress and the swift development of a consumer society ensued. In response to these societal changes, Pop Art redefined art by blurring the boundaries between high art and everyday life.

By placing the striking visual world of advertising, mass media, comic books, and commercial products at the center of aesthetic contemplation, artists created imaginative interpretations ranging from witty and bizarre to deeply socially critical. This gave rise to a unique iconography and a distinct visual language characterized by vivid colors, strong contrasts, and direct visual expression.

One of the key features of Pop Art is the multiplication of identical motifs. Through the application of printmaking techniques, particularly screenprinting, artists produced their works in larger editions, making art accessible to a broader audience. This approach reflected the spirit of a consumer society in which artworks themselves could become products of mass culture, while simultaneously raising questions regarding their value, accessibility, and role in the contemporary world.

In the Opatija exhibition, the works are presented through a variety of media and techniques, including watercolors, screenprints, etchings, lithographs, felt-tip pens, and mixed media.

Featured Artists and Key Works

The exhibition brings together works by ten leading artists of the movement:

Andy Warhol: The most prominent figure of the movement is represented by his famous portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Mao Zedong, as well as the iconic image of Mick Jagger on The Rolling Stones’ LOVE YOU LIVE album cover — works that have become enduring symbols for generations, deeply embedded in our collective consciousness. Alongside his recognizable ventures into visual and music pop culture (such as covers for Diana Ross and Querelle), his oeuvre is defined by a fascination with celebrity culture, self-promotion, and the mystique of private life. Knowing many stars personally, Warhol portrays them in an intimate and direct way.

Steve Kaufman: A former assistant to Andy Warhol at The Factory studio. Like his mentor, his creative process began with photographs that he compositionally processed and adapted before screenprinting, subsequently refining them with painterly interventions and intense layers of paint. Kaufman’s 2002 screenprint, based on a photo portrait of art collector Peter Infeld created for his 60th birthday, was selected as the visual identity of the exhibition.

Mel Ramos: An American Pop Art master known for his figurative works and erotic nudes. In his depictions of commercial products and the female body (such as the famous California Venus, which appears across all phases of his career, and works like Martini Girl from 1995), Ramos succeeds in overcoming the cold association between women and commodities to create an atmosphere of warmth, closeness, and optimism.

Kiki Kogelnik: The renowned Austrian-American artist who lived and worked in the USA alongside world-famous peers. Her works are playful and rich in color, yet intensely political and feminist-oriented. Her characters reveal the dual nature of Pop Art—connected to European artistic tradition and the ideal of beauty, yet simultaneously exposed to the distorting lens of the media.

Roy Lichtenstein: An artist who introduced motifs of so-called “low art” into museum spaces, drawing inspiration from comic books as well as Abstract Expressionism and museum masterpieces by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

James Rizzi: Recognizable for his unique and playful three-dimensional visual expression, represented in the exhibition by his 1999 work Blue Bird.

Keith Haring, Allen Jones, Richard Lindner, and James Rosenquist: The exhibition also features works by these influential authors who, through their distinctive drawing style, sculptural approach, prints, and exploration of urban life, made an invaluable contribution to the development of the American and European Pop Art scene.

About the Infeld Collection

The exhibited works constitute an exceptionally valuable and meticulously curated part of the prestigious Infeld Collection from Vienna, one of the largest private art collections in Austria. The collection was initiated in the mid-1960s by the Austrian musical string manufacturer (company Thomastik-Infeld GmbH), art collector, and patron Peter Infeld (1942–2009) and his mother Margaretha Infeld (1904–1994). Today, the collection continues to be developed with equal dedication and entrepreneurial vision by Zdenka Infeld.

In addition to Pop Art, the focus of the Infeld Collection lies in works of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, Croatian Naive Art, Buddhist meditative paintings from Tibet (Thangka), and Art Brut, along with an extensive collection of musical instruments and vinyl records. To make artworks accessible to the general public, Peter Infeld opened representative cultural centers in Halbturn (Burgenland, Austria) and in Dobrinj on the island of Krk (Croatia), where more than 120 exhibitions have been held to date.

Ticket Prices

Adults: €8.00
Students & Youth: €6.00
Opatija Residents (50% discount): €4.00
Groups (10+ people): €6.00 per person
Family Ticket: €18.00
Combined Ticket (“Juraj Šporer” Art Pavilion + Villa Angiolina): €10.00 (Adults) / €8.00 (Students, Youth, Groups) / €23.00 (Family)

Education Program (Guided Exhibition Tours)

Every Thursday throughout August, join our expert-guided exhibition tours starting at 7:00 PM.

We place special emphasis on the guided tours on August 13 and August 27, 2026, led by Melinda Kostelac, academic printmaker and tenured professor at the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka. Professor Kostelac will guide visitors through the exhibition, exploring printmaking techniques used in creating new icons of visual culture and contemporary art.

Note: Guided tours are available at no extra charge – they are included in the exhibition admission ticket.

Exhibition Details and Credits

Organizer: Croatian Museum of Tourism
Co-organizer: Infeld Collection, Vienna
Venue: “Juraj Šporer” Art Pavilion, Park sv. Jakova 1, Opatija
Exhibition Period: August 1 – September 27, 2026
Curators and Exhibition Concept: Yordanka Weiss PhD (Curator of the Infeld Collection), Nataša Ivančević PhD
Exhibition Design: Lada Sega, Petra Klanjac Majkić
Technical Setup: Ranko Puž
Design and Graphic Prep: Wanda design
Proofreading: Dijana Stanić-Rešicki
German Translation: Irina Riđić
English Translation: Martin Mayhew
Media Relations: Ivan Modrić, Ahelon