The Church of St. Sava

With his arrival in Dubljanska Street in 1909 Kosta Miličević was once more in the vicinity of his old friend, Borivoje Stevanović. His pleinair landscapes, especially the “parts of the churchyard of the St. Sava Church” aroused Miličević’s interest so much that he dedicated the next few years to them. On the other hand, Miličević won over an entire group of younger painters – at first Živorad Nastasijević, Veljko Stanojević, Nikola Bešević and later, in the pre-war years, Miloš Golubović, Pavle Predragović and Mara Lukić. A small colony was spontaneously created and members painted individually or in groups. Summer, and especially spring, were the seasons of gathering for these “Barbizon” painters, where the motif of the Church of St. Sava and the personality of Kosta Miličević symbolize a short albeit significant period of enthusiasm for impressionist painting. Of the four preserved pieces Miličević painted in 1913, the Church of St. Sava from the collection of Pavle Beljanski stands out by the painting technique. Namely, in his usual style the artist filled the entire area of the canvas uniformly: red, blue, yellow, green and violet reverberate in resounding chords. However, apparently the artist was not pleased with such loud contrasts; by putting a subtle veneer over the original colours, he deliberately softened the sharp tones. The powerful expressions with cheerful tones were left to shine through the cracks of the added layer, as well as the little oases, painted through at the foot of the tree and the portal of the vestibule. That was a method which was a faithful reflection of the temperament and somewhat melancholy mentality of Kosta Miličević’s artistic personality.