(1866–1941) was a student of Julius Mařák. He was known as one of the leading Czech landscape painters working around the turn of the 20th century. The Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava originally had eight of his works in its collections, and in 2020 we acquired a further three canvases; we now own a relatively sizeable collection of works by this prominent Czech representative of realistic landscape painting. From the beginning of his studies at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, František Kaván was recognized as a significant new talent, and his work was featured at the Prague Jubilee Exhibition in 1891. At this stage he was still working in a Romantic idiom; elements of realism only began to appear in his paintings during the following year. In the mid-1890s, after he left the Prague Academy, Kaván’s works embraced symbolist tendencies under the influence of the Moderní revue magazine. At the beginning of the 20th century this symbolism was replaced by a realistic idiom, in which he quickly became accomplished – as reflected in his gold medal at the 1900 World Fair in Paris. Kaván’s works are characterized by his sensitive approach to colour and his talent for depicting detail.