Leo Vilhar was born in Postojna, Slovenia 1889. From 1925 until 1932 he lived in Italy and studied painting in a private Academy in Milan under professor Rossi. In 1927 Vilhar had his first independent exhibition, in 1932 he moved to Switzerland and later that year to France. He stayed in Paris for 3 years, in 1935 moved to Morocco and than to Algiers. He lived in North Africa for 12 years, painting local landscapes and portraits. Upon his return to Slovenia in 1947 he met his son Mario, also a painter, for the very first time. A year later Vilhar founded the Central Museum of Inner Slovenia. For the rest of his life Leo kept painting and exhibiting in Slovenia where he had 40 exhibitions. However, his art was never fully discovered because of his bohemian way of life. Today his paintings are kept in a Museum in Postojna and in private collections throughout Europe.