According to Kožarić, the first small scale model of “Matoš on a bench” was made in 1973 out of anger since his colleagues were invited to the tender for the sculpture, but an invite did not make it his way. In its current scale, a plaster cast of “Matoš” was temporarily installed at Strossmayer Promenade in 1978 as part of the XIII Zagreb Salon. For his proposal of “The Poet to Zagreb” Kožarić received a prize and his work was quickly cast in a permanent material – aluminium, and soon became a favourite among Zagreb public monuments. The sculpture “Matoš on a Bench” was also made for the promenade alongside the river Kupa in Sisak and the Roseraie park in Issy les Moulineaux near Paris which marked the poet's stay in Paris in the beginning of the 20^th century.