The oldest documented Slovene paintings are the late 13th-century 'Zackenstil' style frescoes found in the Minorite church in Ptuj (destroyed in 1945) and in the west gallery of Ptuj Parish Church. Ecclesiastical art created in Pomurje in the 14th century is comparable in terms of artistic quality and volume with that of Central Europe during the same period. Created by Master Janez Akvila from Radgona, the frescos at Turnišce (1383-1389), Radgona-Radkersburg (about 1390) and Martjanci (after 1392) are rich in both content and detail. Akvila’s work was continued by his collaborators and pupils.

From the late 14th century, as elsewhere in Central Europe, the linear, flat painting style of the earlier period gave way initially to techniques influenced by the innovations of Giotto, and later to the International Gothic style of Burgundy, Bohemia and northern Italy, with its rich, decorative colouring, flowing lines and more rational use of perspective. During the early 15th century a number local gentry invited well-known foreign workshops to adorn their churches, for example in Ptujska gora, where the workshop of Hans of Bruneck painted a chapel.

A local lyrical variant of the International Gothic style was created in the mid 15th century in the churches of central and south eastern Slovenia by Janez Ljubljanski, son of Carinthian painter Frederic from Villach/Beljak. Also dating from this period is the chapel of the abbey church in Celje, a distant descendant of Sainte Chapelle in Paris; its frescoes rank among the paintings of greatest worldwide significance in Slovenia.

Late Gothic painting in 15th-century Slovenia is identifiable by its warm colours, fresco technique and mystical religious symbolism. In the Kranj region an iconographic cannon known as 'Kranj presbiterium' appeared, linked to the symbolism of architecture and the spirit of Augustinus Civitas Dei. One extant example is a small church called Suha at Škofja Loka: under a wooden painted ceiling the north wall depicts the Adoration of the Magi, the west wall the Last Judgement, and the altar space the Apostles, with Christ the King above all. Outside the church is an image of St Christopher.

Panel painting became popular during this period; an important example is Conrad Laib’s polyptych (c 1460) in Ptuj. The so-called Kranj Altar by Vid from Kamnik is located in Vienna gallery. It is worth mentioning a masterpiece Madonna with Blessing Child (The Hoče Madonna), circa 1465, by Giovanni Francesco da Rimini, in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Slovenia.

Profane motives are also occasionally found in the ecclesiastical art of this period, such as the depiction of everyday chores seen at Stična monastery.