Who was Mijo Šiša Konavljanin?

In the heart of Konavle, in the village Mihanići, the artist Mijo Šiša Konavljanin was born in 1946. He became a visual chronicler of everyday life in Konavle.

In the time of Mijo’s youth, days in Konavle were counted by the agricultural calendar. Everyone worked the land, and food was produced in every home. That was how Konavle people made their living. Each season of the year brought different kinds of labor — in the fields, in the house or in the barn. And for hardworking people, the annual labor cycle always ended in prosperity for the families and for the villages.

Women filled their rare free time with embroidering and knitting, and men with weaving baskets, building stone walls or hunting. During leisure time, there was dancing and singing, accompanied by the gusle or lyre. But then, as before, there were no painters living in Konavle to document these activities. No one painted or drew, ever.

Autoportret, 1980

Young Mijo had a strong need to draw and paint, as well as to sculpt. Back in elementary school in 1960, he had his first solo exhibition. It featured watercolor paintings and wooden sculptures. Those first sculptural works still attract attention with their excellence. Because of that first exhibition, people came from all parts of Konavle to see the miracle of this child and his works. It was obvious that Konavle had its first painter.

In addition to all his regular duties and responsibilities, Mijo continued painting and drawing, exhibiting at smaller exhibitions in Konavle and Lastovo. Then in 1969 he showed his work to the Dubrovnik audience at a large exhibition in the Rector’s Palace. This Konavle-Dubrovnik event was attended by all the artists and critics of the city of Dubrovnik, as well as a large public audience. It then became completely clear to everyone that Konavle had a real painter and its own visual storyteller.

Soon after, Mijo Šiša got married, built a gallery attached to his ancestral home, and organized his life as a painter who was deeply immersed in the agricultural rhythm of Konavle. His gallery became a must-visit place for tourists, and a place for local people to encounter their heritage. The people of Konavle were happy to visit the gallery, either to experience this special artistic expression or to learn how their ancestors lived and worked. It was around this time that Mijo Šiša added Konavljanin (“man of Konavle”) to his name, as an art name or pseudonym.

A wedding procession, 1960

In Mijo Šiša’s gallery some of his larger paintings were on display but not for sale. Also in the gallery were smaller-sized art works that were for sale. They all depicted events and everyday scenes that were important to the people of Konavle — life on the land, in the homes and barns, as well as leisure time — in fact, everything that was slowly disappearing under the penetration of the modern way of life. Mijo Šiša has left us a rich heritage story that teaches much about Konavle life and culture.

Mijo’s fascination with his ancestor’s lives was visible from every corner of his gallery and house. In the gallery are preserved the musical instruments on which his ancestors played, gathering young people from the village to sing and dance. Many other objects of Mijo's ancestors have been preserved that he used as models in his paintings.

The Šiša family revere their ancestors.

The entire family of Mijo Šiša, Mijo's wife and all three children, were involved in the work of the gallery, especially after the Homeland War when they opened a cafe alongside the gallery, where they offered traditional meals to visitors. In those years, many people came to Konavle to visit the Gallery of Mijo Šiša Konavljanin. His paintings are decorating many local homes, and were valuable gifts sent out from Konavle with visitors.

Mijo Šiša passed away in 2017 when the gallery was completely closed, and his works as well as a large collection of objects were left to the test of time. He left behind a lifelong artistic oeuvre that documented life in Konavle as he witnessed it, even as it was vanishing under the pressures of modern life.

There was an exhibit of Mijo Šiša’s paintings in the Konavle County Museum in Čilipi from Oct. 2023 to May 2024. His paintings were on display and the exhibit attracted a large number of visitors. At that same time, work in the Mijo Šiša gallery was begun, to ensure good conditions for the eventual display of his art when it is returned to his Gallery.

Šiša’s large collection of objects has been cataloged and inventoried. Also, work has started on a proposal for the Croatian Ministry of Culture, asking that the Collection of Mijo Šiša Konavljanin and the Ethnographic Collection of the Šiša family be placed on the national list of protected cultural heritages of the Republic of Croatia. Friends of Konavle Heritage has restored the roof, and will repair other parts of the gallery in order to open the Mijo Šiša Konavljanin Gallery to the public again as a place to meet with our ancestors and with the first true chronicler of Konavle life.