Beekeeping and its traditions in Slovenia are connected with one of the most significant forms of folk art creativity – beehive panels. These are artistically painted front sides of beehives that are typical of Slovenia and cannot be found elsewhere in the world. 

In the 18th and the 19th centuries, wooden beehive panels became an object of folk art that made beehives look like open-air picture galleries. Painted beehive panels are a display of the immensely rich folk imagination and creativity and depict various motifs. Folk artists used paints based on natural pigments and linen oil to ensure colour fastness. Subsequently, they used industrially made paints, which cracked. Beehive panel painting reached its heyday between 1820 and 1880 and then started to decline. Some beehives are still decorated with paintings nowadays, however now with contemporary motifs and paints.