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Oil on canvas. Signed lower left: “Kamil Lhoták 1947”. According to the expert opinion prepared by PhDr. Rea Michalová, PhD., “'Parisian park (II)'” is an authentic, enchanting and superbly elaborated painting by Kamil Lhoták, an artist who gained recognition among art historians as well as the greater public as an inimitable individual. His name became synonymous with the milieu of modern civilization and its features, viewed with wonderment, poetic enthusiasm and a certain degree of romantic nostalgia. His does not merely address a strictly defined circle of themes or the artist's relationship to the forgotten, romantic peripheries and to the most distinctive vehicles of technical civilization, machinery and people; primarily the aim is the poetic atmosphere of the paintings. He ascribed the features of an archetype to his motifs – crystal clarity and timelessness. Using a barrier of silence, he removed them from reality and prioritized the mundane. He placed them in remarkable, wittily poignant situations that often reveal an almost literary intention. The painting was made in 1947, i.e., at a time when Group 42 was highly active. Lhoták was a founding member of the art group, which held a dominant position in Czech art in the 1940s. After the war, the borders “of the world in which we live” expanded: in 1947 Kamil Lhoták traveled to Paris, returning with much inspiration and a lifetime of memories. Back in Prague, he painted an entire series of mental images of Paris – works that drew on the depth of his experience (he never painted on site, a fact he explicitly underlined). This series includes two versions of the painting “Parisian Park”, the first of which is in the collections of the National Gallery in Prague (oil on canvas, 29 x 39 cm). Imbued with thematic and expressive individuality, playfulness and gentle irony, the painting is distinctive for its inimitable atmosphere: it glows with the magic of a full experience, where time seems to have stood still at that one poetic moment.” Underpainting from 1938 (repainted “View from a Window – Balloon”). The painting is listed in Kamil Lhoták's catalogue raisonné under no. 772/32.