Milena Pavlović-Barili (alt. Barilli; sr-Cyrl, Милена Павловић-Барили; 5 November 1909 – 6 March 1945) was a Serbian painter and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. She is the most notable female artist of Serbian

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

Biography

Her Italian father, Bruno Barilli, was an influential composer, elder son of Cecrope Barilli, director of the Parmesan Academy of Fine Arts and a member of a noted artistic Barilli family. Her paternal uncle was Latino Barilli, himself a prominent Italian painter. Milena's Serbian mother, Danica Pavlović-Barili (1883-1965), a descendant of

Karađorđe Petrović Đorđe Petrović (; ; – ), known by the sobriquet Karađorđe (; ), was a Serbian revolutionary leader who led a struggle against the Ottoman Empire during the First Serbian Uprising. He held the title of Grand Vožd of Serbia from 14 ...

, Serbian revolutionary leader and founder of the

House of Karađorđević The House of Karađorđević or Karađorđević dynasty ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Династија Карађорђевић, Dinastija Karađorđević, ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Карађорђевићи, Karađorđevići, label=none) was the former ruling Kin ...

, ruling family of the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

and later

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

, has served as

lady in waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but ...

to Queen Maria of Yugoslavia and was tasked with improving her

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of ...

. She was also appointed as superintendent at the court of

King Alexander I of Yugoslavia Alexander I Karađorđević (, ; – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier ( / ), was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 16 August 1921 to 3 October 1929 and King of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929 until Alexander I of Y ...

, who was her second cousin once removed. Danica also had artistic talent and studied art in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, where she met her husband Bruno Barilli in 1905, an Italian actor and music composer, whom she married in an Orthodox ceremony 4 years later in the city of

Požarevac Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čač ...

. Milena studied at the ''Royal School of Arts'' in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

(1922–1926) and in

(1926–1928). In the early 1930s, she left Serbia and returned only for brief visits until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During her stays in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where she socialised with

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

and

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

, she was influenced by many western schools and artists, notably

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( ; ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His ...

. After 1939, she lived and worked in New York where her career peaked as an illustrator for '' Vogue,'' ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'', and other publications under the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. In 1941, she appeared in the ''Twentieth Annual of Advertising Art'', and before her death, she was commissioned to design costumes for

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian-American composer, libretto, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American ...

's ballet ''Sebastian'' and a production of Shakespeare's ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

''; these were never completed. She died of a heart attack at the age of 35, having sustained serious injuries in a horse-riding accident the previous summer. She was cremated, according to her American husband's wishes, and buried in a cemetery in Rome. The topics of her work varied from portraits to imaginative interpretations of biblical stories. The motifs often included dream-like situations, veils, angels, statues of Venus, and Harlequins. Many of her works are parts of permanent exhibitions in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade), and her hometown of

, where the house in which she was born has been converted into a museum in her honor. In 1943, Pavlović-Barili's work was included in

Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemianism, bohemian, and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who we ...

's show '' Exhibition by 31 Women'' at the

Art of This Century gallery The Art of This Century gallery was opened by Peggy Guggenheim at 30 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City on October 20, 1942. The gallery occupied two commercial spaces on the seventh floor of a building that was part of the midtown arts d ...

in New York.

Legacy

She was born in

. The house in which she was born is now a museum, the Milena Pavlović-Barili Gallery, dedicated to her life. The house was donated to the town of Požarevac by Milena's mother Danica Pavlović-Barili in 1961, and opened for public in 1962. The gallery holds 894 works of art by Milena Pavlović Barilli (136 oils, 51 pastels, 415 drawings, 286 tempera and watercolors, 6 prints), 72 works from the collection of the Biennale and contemporary authors, 9 works from the family art collection, which is a total of 975 works.

Artworks about Milena and her work

Performance
''Milena ZeVu''
�
Milena’homage to the Serbian artist Milena Pavlovic Barilli
(1909-1945), House of Jevrem Grujic, March 2019, Belgrade, Serbia

Gallery

Bruno_Barili_ulje_na_platnu_Color.jpg, Portrait of Milena's father, Bruno Barili (1938) Milena Pavlović-Barili - Self-portrait, 1938.jpg, ''Self-portrait'', 1938 Milena Pavlović-Barili 2009 Serbian stamp.jpg, ''Self-portrait'', 1939 Milena Pavlović-Barili 1993 YU 2604 stamp.jpg, ''Act with mirror'' Milena Pavlović-Barili Hot Pink with Cool Grey.jpg, ''Hot Pink with Cool Grey'', 1940 Galery in the birth house of Milena Pavlovic Barilli in Pozarevac, Serbia 16.jpg, Front pages of "Vogue" magazine and one of the dresses that Milena created Galery in the birth house of Milena Pavlovic Barilli in Pozarevac, Serbia 14.jpg, Posthumous casting of Milena's hands Milena,_New_York,_1942.jpg, Milena with the portrait of her relative King Peter II, New York (1942) Danica_i_Bruno_Barilli.jpg, Milena's parents Bruno and Danica Nana_-_Bosa,_mala_Milena,_Bruno,_Danica,_Stojan.jpg, Milena as a child with her parents and maternal grandparents

References

External links