Ivan Generalic was born in Hlebine near Koprivnica. In elementary school, painting lessons were his greatest joy and as a child he used to earn money. He mostly drew with pencil on paper bags and some of these sketches were seen by Krsto Hegedušic, at the time (1930) just a student of the art academy, later a professor.

Hegedušic was impressed with Generalic's work and organized Generalic's first public art exhibition, held in 1931 in the Zagreb Art pavilion. Positive critiques and contacts at the time led to a new era of not only Croatian, but also world art as well.
After World War II, in 1945 Generalic became a member of ULUH (society of Croatian artists). In 1953 he exhibited in Paris, where he lived and painted for a few mon...