Genius of the Theatre is a bronze maquette for the statue at the apex of the pediment of the Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet building in Ljubljana.

In 1890–1892 Alojz Gangl, on commission from the Carniolan Provincial Committee, devoted himself to the sculptural ornamentation of Ljubljana’s Provincial Theatre. He enriched the façade of the neo-Renaissance Opera building with a neo-Baroque figural composition above the pediment titled Genius of the Theatre with Opera and Drama (1892), made of fine-grained yellowish sandstone, and the statues of Comedy and Tragedy (1892–1893) in the niches. The sculptures were influenced by August Bartholdi’s much imitated Statue of Liberty and by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s sculpture La Danse, decorating the façade of the Palais Garnier in Paris.

The central figure at the apex of the pediment, the standing semi-nude and winged Genius of the Theatre, is raising a torch with his right hand and holds a laurel wreath in his left, with which he has crowned the two allegories. His gaze is directed downwards and his left leg has freed itself from the heavy drapery enveloping his lower body. The semi-nude figure, the folds of the drapery and the right foot protruding from the composition are reminiscent of the design of Gangl’s relief The Resurrection of Christ (1889) in Đakovo Cathedral.