Milena Pavlović Barili | Origin of Street Names

Milena Pavlović Barili (1909 - 1945) was a Serbian-Italian painter and poet, insufficiently recognized in her homeland during her lifetime, despite being arguably the only representative of surrealism in Serbian painting of the 20th century.

She was born in Požarevac, in a mixed marriage between the painter Danica Pavlović (a relative of the Karađorđević family) and the Italian composer and war correspondent (from the Balkan Wars) Bruno Barili. Spending a significant part of her childhood and youth in Serbia, Italy, France, and Austria, she mastered major world languages at a young age while also demonstrating a clear talent for drawing and painting.

She was admitted to the Munich Academy of Fine Arts as the youngest student in her generation at the age of only 17. However, due to her idiosyncratic character, the Munich school did not suit her, so Milena left Munich after two years and went to Paris before returning to Yugoslavia.

Milena Pavlović Barili's undisputed talent as a painter developed in a rather unconventional manner for the time and place in which she created. Traveling through Europe as a free artist and visiting exhibitions in the major cities of the old continent, she developed a combined yet highly authentic painting style, and her works mostly received positive reviews.

However, living abroad, her name and work were not particularly appreciated in Serbia. This was not helped by her solo exhibitions in Belgrade and Požarevac, nor in the major European cultural centers such as Paris, London, Rome, and others.

At the age of 30, she crossed the Atlantic and arrived in New York, where she embarked on a new "more commercial" phase of her artistic career. From painting portraits of prominent New Yorkers to industrial design and editing covers for the famous fashion magazine Vogue, Milena Pavlović Barili became a highly respected and successful artist in America.

Her artistic ascent and reaching the highest artistic achievements were cut short by her untimely death at the age of 36, caused by a heart attack due to an innate heart condition. The sudden death of the young artist shocked the art circles in America and Europe.

The urn containing Milena Pavlović Barili's remains was transferred to Rome and placed in the family tomb of the Barili family, where her father and mother were also laid to rest many years later.

The deserved recognition in her homeland came posthumously in the 1950s when her work was first adequately presented to the domestic audience.

Milena's mother, Danica, bequeathed her birthplace in Požarevac to the state to establish the Milena Pavlović Barili Legacy, which was done in 1962. The gallery still exhibits a large number of original works by this authentic painter who represents a significant name in European art between the two world wars.

Symbolically, the name of Milena Pavlović Barili is now carried by numerous streets and schools in cities across Serbia.