As part of the official celebration of Statehood Day – The Sretenje (Candlemas) 2024, the Museum of Contemporary Art organises an exhibition of the works one of the most important female Serbian painters Nadežda Petrović, a pioneer of modernism and one of the main founders of Serbian modernist painting of the 20th century.
The exhibition Nadežda Petrović – Colors of Life presents one possible view of the significant oeuvre of Nadežda’s painting, in which all genres dominate, from landscapes, portraits, nudes and figural compositions, created during different artistic periods of her creativity, with the aim of introducing the audience to a smaller segment of her entire opus, mostly works that are a part of the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, but also some works from the collection of the The Belgrade City Museum, The Gallery of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad and The Museum of Yugoslavia.
Nadežda Petrović (1873 – 1915) is a figure of great importance in Serbian history as an exceptional painter, photographer, educator, art critic, activist for women’s rights, and engagement in addressing current socio-political issues during the historical and artistic upheavals of the early 20th century. Her personality and work can now, after more than a century, be seen as a pioneering endeavor of a woman who was a leader in almost everything she did, especially in the field of art. Nadežda’s approach to painting is the result of her education in Munich and her residence in Paris and Italy, but also of constant returning to her beloved Serbia, which will be reflected through exploration of national themes and issues.
The main feature of Nadežda Petrović’s art is modernism, which can be observed and divided into several periods through her artistic oeuvre: the time of education in Munich, the Serbian period in several phases, early one, when she creates in the style of impressionism, later one, when she creates works of rich coloristic expressionism; followed by her journey to Paris where she continues with the adopted colorism and reaches full maturity, and finally the war period, in which she participates as a nurse, painting work inspired by her native environment, in the style of expressionist colorism. She painted landscapes, portraits and figurative compositions with equal interest and artistic fervour. The common denominator in her painting, which everyone still recognizes today, is the power of her colour and gesture, as well as personal attitudes and life, which coloured the landscapes and people of the Serbian milieu from which she originated.
Exhibition Curator: Mišela Blanuša
The Museum of Contemporary Art would like to thank: The Belgrade City Museum, The Gallery of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad and The Museum of Yugoslavia; for the permission to use and reproduce the documentary material: Miloš Kolarž, The Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection, Novi Sad and Radio Television of Serbia.