The National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade organised the exhibition "Light in the Darkness of WWI: The Highest Achievements of the Protagonists of Impressionism in Serbia" to celebrate its 170th anniversary,
and, at the same time, it was the most important fine art project marking 100 years since the beginning of the First World War. The exhibition was a fine selection of works of art made in the first decade of the 20th century, including the highest achievements of Impressionism in Serbia, unavoidable in retrospectives of modern art in national and international galleries and museums. The Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska exhibited 90 paintings from the collections of The National Museum of Serbia, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, The Belgrade City Museum and Art Gallery ‘Nadežda Petrović’ Čačak.
For the first time Banja Luka lovers of art had the opportunity to see the greatest masterpieces of the great Serbian artist Nadežda Petrović, who was the pioneer of Impressionism in Serbian art, alongside Mališa Glišić, Milan Milovanović and Kosta Milićević.
These four painters, whose painting marked the beginning of modern art in Serbia, also took part in and became victims of the First World War, intangibly intertwining their lives and the art of light with the horrors and darkness of the Great War. Feeding on the legacy of the early or original Impressionism, they developed an authentic artistic expression, thereby "illuminating an age of degradation, decline and darkness of civilization", as concluded by the exhibition curator in the catalogue accompanying the event.
Presenting the art of painting that was born and endured despite hardships of war, this exhibition showed that creativity and the creative potential find a way into this world regardless of the circumstances. The works of Nadežda Petrović, Mališa Glišić, Milan Milovanović and Kosta Milićević, the most consistent Serbian Impressionists and advocates of modern art, who painted at the beginning of the 20th century and shared the fate of their people and country, meant an opportunity for the exhibition visitors to see and feel the ways in which artists perceive the moments in which they create, and how art invigorates and defies.
Author of exhibition: Ljubica Miljković, Museum Advisor, National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade
Curator of MSURS exhibition: Žana Vukičević
The exhibition was organized in collaboration with the National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade.
