Cyprián Majerník (1909 Veľké Kostoľany – 1945 Prague). He studied at a private art school of G. Mallý in Bratislava and at Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (1926 – 1931). His talent was versatile. Besides painting he was also active in literature and publishing. Despite his Slovak origin, Majerník’s life was linked with Prague – thus urban environment, where he studied and also lived later. His work in art-historical literature is associated with the activities of Generation 1909. He aroused attention relatively early and was rated among the outstanding talents of Slovak art on the scene. What concerns opinions about Majerník, probably the best to apply is the widespread opinion evaluating the art of his generation as the one with no balanced programme, emotionally exhilarated and authentic in relation to the events of that period. That is why they have received the attribute of „conscience of the time“, which is especially appropriate in connection to Majerník´s works of the breakthrough years. The author went through a significant developmental transformation, his early works are still based on folklore themes, but their interpretation is different – he looks at the topic from a position of a „townsman“, he perceives the topic as a peculiar anecdote. In the second half of the 1930s, there is a fundamental change in his artistic output. His paintings are dark, crowded with lonely figures waiting for fateful and other meetings, Good Samaritans, Don Quixotes, fugitives. Experts in his work agree that his spiritual attitude was significantly expressed right here, namely in the need to express the topic of an escape from the world. This is resulting into often almost primly existential paintings, which are acting maybe a little obsolete because they refer to and find inspiration in humanistic message of painters of the older generation such as Goya and Daumier more than to the classics of the 20th century. The author suddenly prefers classic compositional frame, moderate variety of colour – focuses on shades of brown and ocherous with black accents in combination with white. The theme is an abandoned, lonesome and helpless person. Despite the fact that it often concerns literary heroes, these are more pictures of personal and civilizing drama, which the author was facing – his deteriorating health, frequent depressions, bad situation in the Protectorate. These very paintings enclose his production untimely, at the age of 35, a few weeks after the end of the War. Alexandra Kusá