© Slovak Post, 2005 Karol Baron is one of the most significant Slovak painters of the second half of the 20th century. He alone of the Slovak artists focused on surrealism. He studied monumental painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava under Prof. Peter Matejka. After initially successful exhibitions in the early 1970’s, his artistic expression then became unacceptable. He was part of the underground movement of Czech and Slovak surrealists. As he was not allowed to exhibit his free artistic works, he produced tapestries for various official premises. Karol Baron was allowed to publicly show his many paintings only towards the end of the 1980’s. Since then, he has been the subject of much attention and organised numerous exhibitions both in Slovakia and abroad. He also taught and lectured at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra where he was awarded the title Professor. The series ‘Magic of Still Life Paintings’ is a modern expression of the surrealistic effect of living and non-living objects. The postal stamp portrays the work of the series ‘Magic of Still Life Paintings V – 1972’. The FDC pictures the reproduction of the line drawing ‘Swimming Muscle’, and the cancellation shows the letter ‘A’ of the series ‘Bizarre World of Letters and Homunculi’. Prof. Ľudmila Peterajová