Mihael Milunović (born July 2, 1967) is a Serbian and French painter. His work encompasses a wide range of artistic disciplines, from painting, drawing and photography through large-scale sculptures, installations, to sound, video and

object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an a ...

s. His main interests focus on social and political issues. By decontextualizing everyday objects,

symbol A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...

s or situations, Milunović provokes unease in the observer, a blend of alienation and

curiosity Curiosity (from Latin , from "careful, diligent, curious", akin to "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking, such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident in humans and other animals. Curiosity helps Developmental psyc ...

. In 2018, he obtained the prestigious Award from the French

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

for his painting work. His works are featured in prestigious museum

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...

s including

MUMOK Mumok (from the full name ; "Museum of modern art, Ludwig Foundation, Vienna") is a museum in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria. The museum has a collection of 10,000 modern and contemporary art works, including major works from Andy Warh ...

, Vienna;

Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade The Museum of Contemporary Art () is an art museum located in Belgrade, Serbia. It was founded in 1958 as the Modern Gallery, making if one the first museums of this type in the world. It was moved into the current building in the Ušće neighbor ...

; Palazzo Forti, Verona; and Musée d’Art et d’Industrie,

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

, France. He has participated in numerous individual and group exhibitions, among others:

Ludwig Museum Vienna; Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris; Musée d'art moderne (Saint-Étienne);

; The Stedelijk Museum, Aalst, Belgium; Esterhazy Foundation

Schloss Esterházy Schloss Esterházy () is a palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, the capital of the Burgenland state. It was constructed in the late 13th century, and came under ownership of the Hungarian Esterházy family in 1622. Under Paul I, 1st Prince Esterhá ...

, Eisenstaedt; Musee d'Art Modeste, Sete; PAN Naples; The Kunsthalle

Fridericianum The Fridericianum is a museum in Kassel, Germany. Built in 1779, it is one of the oldest public museums in Europe.

, Kassel; The Biennials in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

;

Wiener Secessionsgebäude The Secession Building () is a contemporary art exhibition hall in Vienna, Austria. It was completed in 1898 by Joseph Maria Olbrich as an architectural manifesto for the Vienna Secession, a group of rebel artists that seceded from the long-estab ...

, in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and others. In June 2017, Milunović's work "Vision/Blue Mountain" covered the highest building in Vienna over , the

Ringturm Ringturm (Ring Tower) is a prominent skyscraper in Vienna, Austria, and is the headquarters of the Vienna Insurance Group. It was built from 1953 to 1955 after a design by Erich Boltenstern at the Schottenring (Vienna), Schottenring. The tower is ...

, seat of Vienna Insurance Group, marking the ten-year

jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

of this company's art

project A project is a type of assignment, typically involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a specific objective. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of events: a "set of interrelated tasks to be ...

"Wrapping of Ringturm". The ceremony was opened with a speech of

Sebastian Kurz Sebastian Kurz (; born 27 August 1986) is an Austrian former politician who served twice as Chancellor of Austria, first from 2017 to 2019 and then again from 2020 to 2021. Kurz was born and raised in Meidling, Vienna. He entered politics by ...

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Republic of Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Early life and education

Milunović was born in Belgrade, to Nikola Kolja Milunović and Ana Viđen. His father is a well known

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

sculptor and first son of

Milo Milunović Milo Milunović (Cyrillic: Мило Милуновић; Born 6 August 1897 – 11 February 1967) was a Montenegrin painter. He dabbled in both Impressionism and Cubism. Biography Milunović was born in Cetinje, Montenegro, but was educated in S ...

(1897–1967), a Montenegrin painter that dabbled in both

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

and was one of the founders of

Academy of Arts, Belgrade The Academy of Arts () is a private higher education institution in Belgrade, Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem ...

in 1937. His mother Ana Viđen was a sculptor of Croatian origin. Milunović studied painting at the

University of Arts in Belgrade The University of Arts in Belgrade ( sr-cyr, Универзитет уметности у Београду, Univerzitet umetnosti u Beogradu) is a public university in Serbia. It was founded in 1957 as the Academy of Arts to unite four academies. ...

and at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

in Paris, France. In 1996 he was awarded

Laureate In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary awards or Military awards and decorations, military glory. It is also used for recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Gandhi Peace Award, the Student Peace Pri ...

of the prestigious Prix de la Fondation Renoir.

Period 1999–2009

Soon after his return to Paris, in 2000 he exposed his works in Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, within the exhibition "L'autre moitié de l'Europe", in a part curated by dr. Lorand Hegyi. Milunović met Lorand Hegyi during the show, and the long term collaboration was born. Milunović artworks were included the next year (2001) in

Museum Ludwig in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and consequently in Collection

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

AG in

. He debuted with the Galerie

Ernst Hilger Ernst Hilger (28 February 1950 – 26 May 2025) was a curator as well as the owner and founder of Hilger modern/contemporary and Hilger BrotKunsthalle. A gallery owner and a philanthropist mediator, Hilger travelled the world in search of new ar ...

, and continued working with him until 2004. Between 2001 and 2003, Milunović participated in the Biennale of Valencia in 2003, together with Roman Opalka,

Dennis Oppenheim Dennis Oppenheim (September 6, 1938 – January 21, 2011) was an American conceptual artist, performance artist, earth artist, sculptor and photographer. Dennis Oppenheim's early artistic practice is an epistemological questioning about the na ...

and

Ilya Kabakov Ilya Iosifovich Kabakov (Ukrainian: Ілля Йосипович Кабаков; Russian: Илья́ Ио́сифович Кабако́в; September 30, 1933 – May 27, 2023) was an American and Soviet conceptual artist, born in Dnipropetr ...

. During this period Milunović also collaborated on number of exhibition projects with Cité des Sciences in Paris. Milunović moved from Paris to

in France's, central region, where he developed projects with the École supérieure d'art et design Saint-Étienne, where he held an

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

class, and also many artistic and exhibition projects; he participated in several museum shows in Musée d'art moderne (Saint-Étienne) in 2004 (Passage d’Europe together with

Anri Sala Anri Sala (born 1974) is an Albanian contemporary artist whose primary medium is video. Life and career Sala studied art at the Albanian Academy of Arts from 1992 to 1996. He also studied video at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs, Pari ...

Dan Perjovschi Dan Perjovschi is an artist, writer and cartoonist born on 29 October 1961 in Sibiu, Romania. Perjovschi has over the past decade created drawings in museum spaces, most recently in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in which he created ...

, Simon Hantai) and 2005 (Domicile, with

Jan Fabre Jan Fabre (born 14 December 1958) is a versatile Belgian artist known for his contributions to theater, literature, and visual arts. With a career spanning nearly four decades, Fabre has established himself as an influential figure in the artist ...

and others). He traveled and exhibited in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

(2006) and Italy, notably in Palazzo d'Arte di Napoli (PAN), and started working with Gallery Changing Role in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy and Galerie Georges Verney-Carron in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, France. In 2006 he founded NGO ProArtOrg that organised the first Belgrade show of an important American artist since the war in Yugoslavia 1991–1995. It was the show of Dennis Oppenheim followed by a series of lectures given by Thommas Messer, director emeritus of Guggenheim Foundation and dr. Lorand Hegyi, then director of Musée d'art moderne (Saint-Étienne). In 2007 he opened a show "Uncomfortable Realities" in Galerie Piece Unique in Paris, France, showing new sculptural works and works on paper. The show gained great

attention Attention or focus, is the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli. It is the selective concentration on discrete information, either subjectively or objectively. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...

. In 2008 he started a collaboration with Galerie Guy Baertschi from

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. In 2009 he moved again to Paris, only to complete a large sculptural work entitled "

Mothership A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bomber aircraft, bombers converted to carry exp ...

", realised with a group of de-scolarised children in Saint-Étienne and with a help of NGO Paria and city of Saint-Étienne.

Period 2009–2017

At the end of 2009 Milunović moved to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. He started to paint large scale paintings that were shown in Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade in 2014, and consequently became part of important art collections (Collecion Solo, Wiener städtische, Esterhazy). In 2015 he returns to Paris, where he lives and works since.

Education

1987–1995

(Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creativity, creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function ...

).
1995–1996 Specialized Studies at

(ENSBA), Paris, France, class of professor

Vladimir Veličković Vladimir Veličković ( sr-Cyrl, Владимир Величковић; 11 August 1935 – 29 August 2019) was a Serbian painter who spent much of his adult life in Paris. Biography Veličković graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Be ...

Exhibitions

Group shows:

Ludwig Museum Vienna; Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France; Musée d'art moderne (Saint-Étienne), France;

, Serbia; Stedelijk Museum, Aalst, Belgium; Esterhazy Foundation, Eisenstaedt, Austria; Musee d'Art Modeste, Sete, France; PAN Naples, Italy; The Kunsthalle

Fridericianum The Fridericianum is a museum in Kassel, Germany. Built in 1779, it is one of the oldest public museums in Europe.

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, Germany; The Biennials in Poznań, Poland and Valencia, Spain;

, in Vienna, Austria and others. Individual exhibitions:

, Serbia, Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy; Gallery Piece Unique, Paris, France; Galerie Art Baertschi & Co, Geneva, Switzerland; Georges Verney Carron, Lyon, France; Voice Gallery, Marrakech, Morocco and others.

Collections

His works are present in the permanent collections of the

– Museum Ludwig in Vienna; Musee d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint-Étienne, France; Collection

Moët & Chandon Moët & Chandon (), also known simply as Moët, is a French fine winery and part of the luxury goods company LVMH, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. Moët et Chandon is one of the world's largest champagne producers and a prominent List o ...

LVMH LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French multinational holding company and conglomerate that specializes in luxury goods and has its headquarters in Paris, France. The company was formed in 1987 through the ...

, France; Collection

Siemens AG Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the posit ...

, Vienna, Austria; Sammlung Esterhazy, Eisenstadt, Austria;

, Serbia; Collecion Solo, Madrid; Collection Telenor, Belgrade, Serbia; Collection Renoir, France; Collection Maya Picasso, France; Collection Leube, Salzburg; Collection Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy; Collection Azraq – foundation Alliances, Marrakech, Morocco; Collection Barzai-Hollander, Brussels; Collection Wiener Städtische, Austria and Serbia; as well as in many other private and public art collections around the world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milunovic, Mihael 1967 births Living people Artists from Belgrade Serbian painters Contemporary painters