Milić od Mačve

Acquired directly from the artist.
Thence by descent to present owner.

Milić Stanković (1934 – 2000), known by his artistic name Milić od Mačve, was a Serbian artist. Milić was an interesting personality in Serbian art and was often referred to as Serbia's Salvador Dali for his figurative surrealist paintings filled with fantasy and dreams with imaginary scenes.

Milić was introduced to painting in the second year of high school, when a professor named Đorđe Kostić founded an art association in the basement of the school. Kostić noticed Milić's artistic sense and helped him to several exhibitions in the city.

Because of poverty his parents decided that his education should continue at the Military Academy in Belgrade. Milić was accepted, but at the last moment managed to convince his parents that architecture would be better for him and more promising for the future. At the School of Architecture, he was taught by the artist Pivo Karamatijević. The following year, Milić passed the entrance exam to the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade. Milić graduated in 1959 and in the same year had his first solo exhibition, where a famous collector from Geneva, Herbert Beck, bought seven paintings for 770,000 Serbian dinars, a significant amount at the time.