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Marta Ehrlich

1910–1980 · Croatian painter

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Marta Ehrlich (Zagreb, 1910 – 1980) was a Croatian painter whose career was quiet but steady. Born into a wealthy Jewish family in Zagreb, she grew up surrounded by people connected to art and architecture: her uncle, the architect Hugo Ehrlich, designed the family villa in Tuškanac, and her aunt, the painter Mira Klobučar, survived the Holocaust.

She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Zagreb in 1934 and, the following year, went to Paris, where she spent three years refining various painting techniques. After returning to Zagreb she took private lessons with Vladimir Becić, whose influence is evident in her early work. Over her career she created around 227 paintings, which form a significant part of twentieth-century Croatian visual art.

She was married to the painter Kamilo Tompa, and the couple lived and worked at their house on Šubićeva street. She painted until 1978 and died in 1980, having taken her own life, according to the sources. She was buried at Mirogoj Cemetery under the name Marta Tompa.