The National Gallery in Prague is one of the most “visible” galleries of art on stamps. With stamps being issued under the title “Art from the National Gallery” from 1966 (which is more than 50 years ago!), it was the foundation of one of the most long-lasting series of stamps in the entire world.

In figures

Published from 1966- present day: as of 2018, it will be ongoing for exactly 52 years chronologically.

Such stamps were not issued in only 2 years: in 1978 (stamps were issued for the 30th anniversary of the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava instead) and in 1983 (when stamps featuring art from the National Theater in Prague). That means that the 50th series of stamps inspired by the National Gallery in Prague are going to be issued in 2018!

Between 1966-1992 the issues were of Czechoslovakia. Issues 1993-to date are from the Czech Republic.

All stamps are given the title of the artwork, the artist (with years of birth and death where known) as well as the location of the artwork in the museum universe of Czechoslovakia/The Czech Republic. Rarely, an anniversary is being marked on the stamps (as it happened in 1994, for the stamp devoted to Lucas  van Leyden, when the 500th anniversary of birth was mentioned on the stamp).

The series has a visible penchant for painting. Occasionally, sculpture is being shown. Only once photography was represented with one stamp (Jaromir Funke‘s “Loneliness with Glasses” in 2014). It is also the only stamp from the series not to have been engraved, but given a ‘modern’ look through digital printing.

Stamps were issued in series of 2 to 6. Originally the series included 5 stamps, but variations occurred. Most recent series from the Czech Republic include a maximum of 3 stamps.

191 stamps in this series were issued between 1966 and to date (including the 2017 stamps).

The stamps of former Czechoslovakia were usually issued during the last week of November, while the Czech Republic ones are issued in the second week of November. In recent years, the masterpieces to be shown on stamps are announced by the Czech Post at least 12 months in advance.

A large variety of local artists is being showcased in the half-centennial issue. Only 27 paintings by foreign artists were featured to date.

Many artists have been featured more than once on stamps from the series (the number between brackets refers to the number of times): Vaclav Hollar (4); Peter Bohun (3); Albrecht Durer (3); Alfons Mucha (3); Karel Skreta (3); Maximilian Svabinsky (3); Jan Zrzavy (3); Martin Benka (2); Cyril Bouda (2); Petr Brandl (2); Vaclav Brozik (2); Josef Capek (2); Lucas Cranach the Elder (2); Norbert Grund (2); Frantisek Hudecek (2); Jan Kupecky (2); Master Theodoricus (2); Pablo Picasso (2); Jan Preisler (2); Jakub Schikaneder (2); Zdenek Sklenar (2); Frantisek Tichy (2);

Below you will find the list of the stamps from this series (1966-2017) ordered alphabetically by the last name of the artist. Where available, Michel catalog numbers have been given. Years 1966-1992 refer to the issues of former Czechoslovakia, while issues 1993-present refer to the issues of the Czech Republic.

A-C

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