The origins of the Humpolec private collection of 20th and 21st century Czech art, established by Rýzner family, date back to the mid-1990s. The anniversary exhibition Továrna na krásno (Authors of the literary works), which follows on from the previous exhibition chapters Prologue and Intermezzo, presents works selected subjectively by the collectors – that is, artworks with which they have a strong personal connection. These may be works given by close family, bound up with friendship, with a home region and landscape, or with a moving story, as well as works that, even after thirty years, still stir the same intensity of feeling as at first encounter. The 8smička Art Zone, which is located within the walls of a former textile factory, has truly been transformed into a ‘factory of beauty’ thanks to the collection and the dozens of exhibitions held over the past eight years. The title of the exhibition itself, however, is a paraphrase of the title of Karel Čapek’s novel The Absolute at Large (Továrna na absolutno, literally The Factory of the Absolute) and refers not only to the Čapek brothers’ collaboration in the fields of literature and the visual arts, but also to their important role in the creation of the collection. Čapek brothers are among the figures who first awakened Zdeněk Rýzner’s deeper interest in culture and shaped his relationship to art.

Čapek brother’s interweaving of image and word is also reflected in the exhibition itself. In addition to works of art, the final section of the exhibition features literary works created by eight prominent Czech women and men writers who were invited to take part and who share a close relationship with the visual arts. Drawing on works from the collection, they wrote their own original texts, present in the exhibition as an audio track. Here, paintings become a prompt for words, and words open up new, multilayered ways of reading works of art. The Factory of the Beautiful thus becomes an island of calm – a place of rest, of immersion in colour, form, words and creative vision.