Lujza Kuzmić-Mijić, Apples, 1922, oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm, inv. no. 115 © National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Lujza Kuzmic-Mijic was one of the members of the oldest generation of academic artists whose activity marked the beginning of the national art scene. ⁠
Lujza was a student of the High School for Women in Sarajevo, but her passion and talent for painting motivated her to enter the private painting school of Jan Karel Janevski in 1906.⁠
When she turned 18, Lujza left Sarajevo and moved to Vienna to study painting in the class of Robert Scheffer. She was one of the few women who courageously opposed the prejudice of the patriarchal and conservative milieu of that time.⁠
The most productive and important period for Lujza was after WWI, around the year 1919, and it lasted roughly until 1923.⁠
When she was around 40 years old, Lujza completely committed to her family and stopped painting. She lived a very calm and withdrawn family life, until the year 1959, when she died in Zagreb.⁠