The historical importance of Šime Perić in modern Croatian painting has already been truly established and verified repeatedly. Belonging to the generation which opened the door to more modern experiences in the mid-50s, he distinguished himself very soon as one of the most radical and most daring creators. In the significant breakthrough of abstract tendencies and enformal apprehension of matter and surface, Perić committed himself to action painting, which was pioneering in our milieu. It contributed essentially to the freedom and determination of art autonomy. But even when he used the «dripping» technique and made gestures automatically, he did not forget the pictorial values of profound tradition. He successfully synthetized the innovation of procedure and the expression, even the beauty of used substance, obtaining rather personal measure of structural dynamism, a ballance between linear and chromatic forces.

In distinction from some of his coevals, Šime Perić did not 'burn out' in mere avant-gardism. Having exhausted one area of research he systematically turned to new options, after certain purification, «tabulae rasae». In the central stage, in the painting of 70s and 80s, an organic apprehension of a form dominated, a certain vegetative or pyrographic association. By refined coverings an in interwaving of lighter and deeper spots the painter has formed the exciting rhythm of mainly circular movement. In the last decade of his half-a-century creativity Šime Perić gave himself to the hedonistic interpretation of light of his homeland. The abundant cycle called «Summers on Brač» represents at the same time the maturity and the freshness of the reached personal expression. Ethereal and open colours combined with the temperamental line create a true joy, signify the recognition of vitality and painting, making the apogee of exceptionally encircled opus.