The 1990s Generation

Compared to the previous generation of the 1980s, the subsequent decade of Czech painting does not feature any distinctive unifying characteristics. After some time, wild expression and postmodernist stratification of various languages has exhausted all its possibilities and artists turn to other trends, search for new possibilities in painting itself, while reinforcing conceptual approaches. A considerable part of new painting is represented by abstract images which also use certain methods of "post-painting abstraction", in which the specific manuscript is reduced and "mechanical" ways of painting are applied, such as using a paint roller (Ivan Vosecký or Petr Pastrňák) or using a template (Tomáš Vaněk, Petr Písařík). Paintings are made up of various structures and grids, combine colourful surfaces, stains or lines, and harmonies of fine colour combinations are created (Jiří Černický, Petr Pastrňák, Petr Písařík).
Most frequently, the unifying element of these paintings is their lyricizing character, for the first time evident at the exhibition entitled Česká abstraHce (Czech abstraHtion) (Václav Špála Gallery, 1996, arranged by Martin Dostál and Marek Pokorný). The lyrical abstraction was determined as a characteristic though temporary feature of paintings around the mid-1990s although they did not see any dominant style-forming movement in it. This is also supported by the structure of Richard Adam's collection of paintings from the 1990s (specifically 1995–2005).
Besides the above-mentioned lyrical abstraction, conceptual painting working with precise geometric shapes and their connections (for instance, Jan Šerých, Michal Škoda) is applied just like depictive painting, which in this period maintains its steady niche in the Czech art scene, too. A certain shift is evident from the 1980s: "objectively" captured everyday situations (for instance, Luděk Rathouský), a detailed view of specific things and their details (Vít Soukup, Milan Salák) or natural motives (Ondřej Kopal, Milan Salák, Patricie Fexová) newly appear. One of the most distinctive figures is Josef Bolf, who captures a strange imaginary world of childhood, traumatizing and cruel at the same time, in symbolic colourful combinations of pink and black shades. 
The whole spectrum of 1990s Czech painting from Richard Adam's collection was presented at the turn of 2006/2007 together with 1980s painting, and separately in 2015.