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Her works are saturated with symbols, metaphors, poetic elements, narratives and reminiscences of antiq- uity and renaissance aesthetics, which renders her art profoundly confessional and melancholic, with narra- tive layers reflecting her personal world and European artistic traditions. It is due precisely to this distinctive approach that her paintings only later received the at- tention they deserved and she was finally recognised as a forebear of postmodernism. Her art, which was viewed at the time as being premature for the wider audience on the domestic scene, gradually came to be recognised as innovative and visionary. The phenomenon of duality, as one of the attributes characterising her oeuvre in the history of 20 th century art in Serbia and Yugoslavia, permeates all aspects of her creativity, from the themes she addressed to formal and aesthetic solutions. On one side, her work draws on clas- sical aesthetics inspired by Renaissance art, ancient my- thology and symbols, while on the other side she reveals elements of contemporary surrealism and metaphysics that accentuate inner states, dreams and the fickleness of emotion. Light, fluttering forms and phantasmagori- cal scenes are often juxtaposed with melancholy, intro- spective figures and tones, especially in portraits and self-portraits. The central figures, usually women, can be interpreted as artistic representations of the artist’s own inner world; a reflection of her own emotions and life experiences. The scenes she painted are shrouded in veils of dreams and fantasy, in an atmosphere between reality and illusion. Another aspect of the occurrence of duality relates to the division of Milena’s career between “high art” and applied art – specifically fashion and commercial design. Despite her creative roots being deeply embedded in the European tradition, she succeeded in adapting to mod- ern trends when she moved from Europe to New York. While working as a fashion illustrator and designer just to make ends meet and gain opportunities to paint and exhibit, she found ways to introduce artistic sophistica- tion to her commercial work, thus preserving the integ- rity of her expression. Her work ultimately also reflects the duality be- tween her real-life circumstances and artistic visions. Even though she was living in the harsh times between the two world wars, confronted by the challenges of ex- ile, diseases and personal losses, she created paintings and poetry that embodied a world of dreams, melan- choly and an idealised past, in which myths and legends received new, personal interpretations. As an artist who knew no geographical or cultural boundaries, working against the backdrop of movements of European and world art, she left behind a body of work that reflects the contemporary tendencies of that time. It is precisely this ability to connect directly with global artistic tenden- cies, without adapting to any local context, that demon- strates Pavlović-Barili’s importance as an artist who cre- ated with sovereignty in the movements of the main currents of world art.

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART BELGRADE The Duality of Milena Pavlović-Barili This exhibition runs until 17 th March 2025 and presents around 150 works: paintings, drawings, poetry, fashion illustrations and documentary material of one of Serbia’s most beloved artists T he Duality of Milena Pavlović-Barili is an exhibi- tion presenting the creativity of this extreme- ly influential artist, emphasising her contri- bution to the modern art of Serbia and the world during the interwar period. The select- ed works reveal the unity within Pavlović-Barili’s strong, original and unconventional personality, with her mod- ern and sophisticated artistic sensibility that unifies the rational and the emotional. Her artistic and life expres- sion served to create an oeuvre that’s viewed as part of a complex semiotic system connecting apparently dis- sonant yet essentially harmonious creative forms in the fields of painting, poetry, illustration and graphic design. Milena Pavlović-Barili (Požarevac, 1909 – New York, 1945) had a life that was extremely tumultuous and event- ful, despite being short. She was a member of the gen- eration of artists of our region who pursued inspiration and education in the cultural centres of Europe. Milena’s life journey was nonetheless integrated directly into the artistic trends of Europe as a whole, which distinguished her as an artist who worked within those frameworks without adapting to any local context.

52 | Umetnost » Art

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