On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth of the famous Serbian painter Milic Stankovic, known as Milic of Macva, The House of Jevrem Grujic opened an exhibition that presents the first 30 years of work by the Serbian Dali.

At the exhibition, visitors will be able to see over 60 of Milic’s paintings, as well as numerous personal items, photographs, drawings, and art installations.

Some of the works have never been shown to the public, but there will also be those recognizable to everyone, such as “The Repeated Past ” or “Dedication to the Ashes of Leonid Sheika”.

The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the family of the famous artist and private collectors, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.

According to the peasant dream book, for children born at the end of October, and beginning of November, it was written – that if he does not develop into a soldier, he will become an artist. On one such October in 1934, Milic Stankovic was born in a cornfield, separated from his mother by a sickle.

Born in Belotic in the Macva area, he grew up in the countryside with his mother Desanka, and father Radovan. He spent his time playing in the fields, in the barn, in the old warehouse, and in the summer swimming in the nearby river, he made his own toys from objects and pumpkins, and his vivid imagination helped him overcome his leisure time.

He deeply absorbed the world around him with all his senses and showed interest in everything that surrounded him, creating from early childhood numerous theories and definitions of everything he was surrounded by, which he later elaborated in poems, texts, interviews, cycles of paintings and drawings and philosophical thought that he expressed through all media.

During high school, Milic said the “Painter’s Oath” to himself in the mirror! He said: “I must be a painter! I will be a painter and I will only live from painting!”, accepting his fate.

At the art academy in Belgrade, he proved to be an excellent student and soon received a non-refundable scholarship. He organized over a hundred solo exhibitions held all over the world – from North America to Brussels, Rome, Paris, and Vienna. He used his knowledge of architecture, which for a time he studied in parallel with the Academy of Fine Arts, to build three towers, in Belgrade, Belotić, and Zlatibor, which were places of creation, gathering, and socializing, and today places of memory and preservation of his image and work.

The works of one of the Serbian artists who marked the 20th century can be found in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Vatican Museum in Rome, the History and Art Museum in Geneva, and many other galleries and private collections, including the collection of David Rockefeller.

 He was a member of Mediala, a movement, and the group that emerged in the mid-fifties, together with Olja Ivanjicki, Leonid Shejka, Pedja Ristic “Jesus”, Vladimir Velickovic, Djordje Kadijevic, and many others.

Milić belonged to the group of fantastics, and surrealists, including Serbian history, myths, traditions, and personalities into his works, while also dealing with contemporary events. He knew many world-famous artists, including Salvador Dali.

The authors of the exhibition are Branka Conić, director of the Jevrem Grujic House, and Andrea Milojević, art historian.

In addition to the Ministry of Culture of the RS, the exhibition was supported by the following companies: Dunav osiguranje, Elixir Foundation, Publikum, DPC, Alma Quatro, Avakum, Clockwork Production, and Valiant communication agency.