The painter and restaurateur, who, together with Jama, Grohar and Jakopič formed the famous ''Quartet'' of painters belonging to Slovenian Modernism.
In his
works, Matej Sternen, Slovenian painter and restaurateur, mostly depicted the
human figure, especially portraits and female nudes. He devoted most of his
time to oil and mural painting, but in addition, he was a master of drawings and is considered to be one of the
first Slovenian graphics. Together with Jama, Grohar and Jakopič he formes the
famous ''Quartet'' of painters belonging to Slovenian Modernism.
He was born in 1870 in Verd at Vrhnika. He attended secondary school in
Krško and then he attended the State Craft School in Graz where he met Ivan
Grohar and Jože Plečnik. In 1892 he attended the Applied Art School in Vienna, and
in years 1892-96 he studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.
Even during his study
Sternen earned money by drawng and portraying. At that time, he was also an assistant to Alojzij Šubic who introduced him
to the process of restoration. In 1899 he moved to Munich where he met Rihard
Jakopič and Matija Jama and renewed his acquaintance with Ivan Grohar. In Munich Sternen met the
painter Roza Klein and married her. He lived
and worked in various places throughout Slovenia and in Munich and traveled to
study in Italy and Paris. During the First World War he worked as a drawer, photographer
and restaurateur. After the war he settled in Ljubljana and from 1921 onwards he was a professor of drawing at the department of Architecture at the
Technical Faculty in Ljubljana.