The academy-trained painter Ivo Režek completed the School of Crafts in Zagreb in 1915 and later enrolled at the Provisional College of Art and Artistic Crafts He discontinued his studies in 1916, but later continued them again at the College of Art in Prague under professor Vlaho Bukovac. He received his diploma in 1924 from Professor Thiele. From 1924 to 1928 Režek was in Paris. From 1947 to 1968, he was professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.

At first he was close to Cézanne's method and the tradition of the Munich school, painting simple balanced compositions with prominent volumes and plasticity, then from 1924 he painted in the spirit of neoplasticism of A. Derain and P. Picasso in cycles of layered metaphysical meanings in which female nudes, bathers and portraits prevailed magical-realistic staging. In the early 1930s, in addition to psychological portraits and still lifes, he painted motifs from his native region Zagorje and scenes from the difficult life of Zagorje peasants. His realism continued even after the Second World War. He was engaged in illustrating books, and under the pseudonym "Ives" he published caricatures in the humorous and satirical newspapers Kopriva and Kerempuh.