At the age of 102, art historian and patron Meda Mládková has passed away

Prague – The art historian, collector, and patron Meda Mládková has passed away. She succumbed to health complications related to advanced age at the age of 102. The Jan and Meda Mládková Foundation and the Kampa Museum, which Mládková founded, informed about this in a press release today.

Mládková died this morning, said Jiří Pospíšil, the chairman of the foundation’s board. "She believed in the idea her whole life: 'If culture survives, the nation survives' and this thought of hers will remain," he added.

Meda Mládková was born on September 8, 1919, in Zákupy in Northern Bohemia. She lived in exile from 1948. Throughout her life abroad, first in Switzerland, later in France, and finally in the United States, she helped her fellow countrymen.

In the 1960s, she began visiting Czechoslovakia. She discovered modern art behind the Iron Curtain and decided to help local artists. She bought several paintings from these artists herself. After the death of her husband Jan Mládek in August 1989, Mládková dedicated the entire collection to Prague at his request. After the revolution, she chose a dilapidated building of the Sovovy mlýny and founded a foundation.

Prague acquired the future museum building from the state in 1997, and Mládková rented the Sovovy mlýny from the city for 99 years. The collection includes over 220 paintings and drawings by František Kupka, 16 sculptures by Otto Gutfreund, and over 1,000 works by Czech and Slovak artists from 1965 to 1985. Before his death in 2002, the significant Czech poet, visual artist, and art collector Jiří Kolář donated his collection to the Mládkových Foundation.