Seaside Motif

From the late 1930s onwards motifs from the Adriatic coast were frequently present in the painter’s opus, and in certain periods they were even dominant. Unlike other works from this thematic whole, the Seaside Motif does not depict the sea, fishermen, or the waterfront of a seaside town, but inland countryside, shimmering under the fierce summer sun. In addition, the motif in this painting was interpreted in a noticeably different manner compared to Stojsavljević’s previous, blue-green period where cool tonalities dominated. The new approach was mainly apparent in the application of vivid colours, applied with swift, short brushstrokes, and the light, which seems to radiate from the colours themselves disintegrating the solidity of form by its expressiveness became the principal means of expression. The intensity of the colours, among which orange and green prevail, was brought to a culmination, while contrasts in brightness value and spatial depth were reduced to a minimum. The sunny landscape is free of human presence, which lends the painting as a whole a certain metaphysical note. This typical work from Stojsavljević’s late period, characterized by a palette of expressive colours, conflicting warm and cool tones and an accentuated facture, is a stylistic continuation of the colouristic painting of the 1930s, the reason why Beljanski wanted it for his collection at the time when it was already in the museum display.