WHEN POLITICS STRATEGISED AESTHETICS – Works from the National Museum of Modern Art Zagreb 1945–1960

(1) Elements from Ivan Picelj: Composition “Tyma 3”, 1951; (2) Antun Augustinčić: Marshal Tito, 1948. Photo: Mario Kučera. © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb. Design: Yevheniia Havrylenko.

Opening: Thursday, 19 May 2026

About the Exhibition

The exhibition When Politics Strategised Aesthetics presents artworks produced during a decade in which the Yugoslav communist government dramatically reoriented its cultural and aesthetic agenda. During this period, visual art underwent a radical transformation from socialist realism to abstraction. The exhibition traces specific cultural and political developments in Socialist Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1960, a period marked by the rapid evolution of formal visual language and content. While acknowledging this cultural phenomenon, the curatorial framework also seeks to foreground its pragmatic background and raison d’être, which points to the fact that great cultural breakthroughs have often come at the expense of human suffering. Although later viewed as a great moment of societal liberation, this shift was rooted in oppression and the silencing of dissent – aspects that are often disregarded.

This evolution from socialist realism to abstraction and existentialist figuration is illustrated through the representation of artworks commissioned for the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art (NMMU). The selection comprises sculptures, paintings, works on paper, as well as medals and ephemera.

Curators: Branko Franceschi (Director, NMMU) and Marta Radman (Curator, NMMU)

COOPERATION PARTNERS

Nacionalni muzej moderne umjetnosti (National Museum of Modern Art Zagreb)