Belgrade exhibition spotlights key figure of contemporary Slovenian art
At the Salon of the Museum of the City of Belgrade, on April 16, 2026, at 7:00 p.m., an exhibition of the painting opus of Mirsad Begić, one of the key creators of contemporary Slovenian art, will be opened.
The exhibition, titled Selected Paintings, presents a thoughtfully curated selection that places the artist’s painting practice at the forefront—developed over the years in parallel with his sculpture, yet only more fully revealed to the wider public in recent times, CE Report quotes STA.
In recent decades, Begić has decisively shaped public space with numerous figurative sculptures and public monuments in Slovenia and abroad, including the monumental bronze side doors of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Ljubljana, created on the occasion of the first visit of Pope John Paul II to Slovenia.
His work is recognizable for its intense physicality, pronounced materiality, and inner expressive tension that stems from a deeply personal, yet at the same time universal, experience. The exhibition in Belgrade is therefore not merely a presentation of paintings, but also a clear shift in perspective: painting is revealed as the inner core of his sculptural thinking.
Begić’s painting is not a secondary aspect of his sculpture, but rather reveals the deepest structure of his creative process. If sculpture is a field of three-dimensional tension, painting condenses that tension into its purest form. Volume is not lost on the canvas, but intensified through layered material, condensed composition, and lines that carry the weight of mass.
In Begić’s work, drawing is not a preparatory phase, but a fundamental creative act. The figure is not established as a depiction of the body, but as an archetypal presence—a concentration of experience that transcends the individual and becomes universal.
The exhibition abandons linear and chronological reading. Instead of narrative, it establishes an intense visual field in which individual works function as independent events. The painting does not illustrate, but opens a field of perception.
Mirsad Begić (1953) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana and furthered his studies at St. Martin’s School of Art in London. Since 1983, he has lived and worked in Ljubljana. He is the recipient of the Prešeren Fund Award (2000) and the presidential decoration, the Order of Merit for his invaluable sculptural opus (2021).
Mirsad Begić remains one of the rare artists who bridges monumental public expression with an intimate, introspective artistic practice.
The opening will feature remarks by Belgrade City Secretary for Culture Dr. Jelena Medaković, Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Serbia H.E. Dr. Slobodan Šešum, gallerist Franci Novak, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Serbia in Slovenia Tomaž Kavčič, curator Špela Stramšek, and the artist himself.
The exhibition at the Salon of the Museum of the City of Belgrade will remain open until May 17, 2026.
Foto: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
