Stevan Aleksić | Origin of Street Names

Stevan Aleksić (1876 - 1923) was one of the greatest Serbian painters at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. With the quality and significance of his works, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the most famous painters of his time, but by living unconventionally and withdrawn, away from urban and cultural events, he remained far from the "grand stage."

As a descendant of two generations of painters (both his father and grandfather were involved in painting), Stevan Aleksić chose his path in his early youth. After completing his primary and secondary education in Arad, a town in the Romanian part of Banat that was then within the borders of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, he was sent to Munich to study painting. An exceptional student, he received numerous awards, but due to his father's death, he was forced to interrupt his studies and never officially completed the painting academy.

Upon returning to his homeland, Stevan Aleksić permanently settled in Modoš, a village in Banat, now better known as Jaša Tomić, where he got married, built a house and a painting studio, and established a school for icon painting and painting.

A significant part of Stevan Aleksić's work is associated with religious themes and the church. Alongside the incomparable Uroš Predić, with whom he was friends, Stevan Aleksić is arguably the most important Serbian icon painter.

Additionally, he painted dozens of churches and monasteries in Vojvodina, among which the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Arad, Almaška Church in Novi Sad, Preobraženjska crkva in Pančevo, and the iconostasis of the Bešenovo Monastery stand out.

Stevan Aleksić was a representative of the so-called "Munich school," whose elements were particularly noticeable in his portraits and self-portraits. He was also one of the first painters of symbolism in Serbian art. One of Aleksić's most famous portraits is the portrait of Mihajlo Pupin, and his numerous self-portraits have exceptional artistic value through which the artist's stylistic and personal evolution can be chronologically traced.

Stevan Aleksić also left a significant mark in genre painting. His depiction of the "Crucifixion of Christ" and monumental compositions such as the "Burning of the Relics of Saint Sava," "Assumption of the Virgin Mary," and others, are among the most important works in this sphere of Serbian painting.

However, due to personal and historical circumstances, Stevan Aleksić operated and created on the margins of major cultural events throughout his life, with little contact with Belgrade, which was the center of Serbian cultural and artistic life at that time. Having only one exhibition in Belgrade, his work was not sufficiently recognized, appreciated, or celebrated in the early decades of the 20th century.

"Justice" arrived much later, and today Stevan Aleksic's original works can be seen in galleries and museums throughout Serbia, with the largest collection on display at the Gallery of the Serbian Matica in Novi Sad and the Museum of Srem in Sremska Mitrovica.

Stevan Aleksic died prematurely at the age of 47 and was buried in Modoš (Jaša Tomić), where he spent the majority of his life.

In the same town, a school bearing his name was established, which also houses a bust of the painter in its courtyard. In the rest of the country, only three streets symbolically bear the name of Stevan Aleksic.