Inspired by France

The new exhibition year at the Gallery of Matica Srpska begins with the ceremonial opening of the exhibition Inspired by France on 22 March, as part of the Month of Francophonie, in cooperation with the French Institute in Serbia.

Serbian fine art of the 20th century is inextricably linked to the Paris School of Fine Arts due to the fact that the capital of France in that period became the centre of the most advanced artistic movements and a meeting place for artists from all over the world. Young Serbian painters dreamed and longed for Paris, and a significant number managed to fulfill those dreams and visit the city of light, stay and study there, and even exhibit at prestigious exhibitions of contemporary painters. Paris shaped them with its way of life, streets, parks and museums. At the same time, it had a formative influence on their artistic poetics through numerous artistic movements and ideas that changed on the Parisian scene during the first half of the 20th century. The largest whole in the exhibition consists of the works by Serbian modernists created in the interwar period. The exhibition also includes works from the first post-war years, which were created in new socio-political circumstances by the bearers of interwar modernism, as well as by new generations who are fed from the same creative sources. Over 60 presented works of art by artists such as Sava Šumanović, Bogdan Šuput, Petar Dobrović, Milan Konjović, Peđa Milosavljević, Ljubica Cuca Sokić, Lazar Vozarević, Mića Popović and sculptural works by Đorđe Jovanović stand as permanent testimonies of how these ‘Parisian guests’ experienced the capital of art, as well as the way in which they contributed to the strengthening of Serbian-French ties with their artistic involvement.

The exhibition is accompanied by the Serbian-French catalogue of the same name by author Ivana Rastović. During the exhibition, a rich supporting programme will be implemented in the form of lectures on Fridays at 7 p.m., curatorial tours on weekends at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., as well as creative workshops for children and teenagers on Saturdays. The catalogue and exhibition were implemented by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, with a major contribution of the Embassy of the Republic of France in the Republic of Serbia and the French Institute in Serbia.

The exhibition will run until 26 May.