TRAJANJE I TRENUTAK: SLIKA BEOGRADA (1900–1941)
Duration and the Moment: The Picture of Belgrade (1900–1941)

Summary/Abstract: All over the European continent in the fin de siècle one could see dynamic changes of the social reality, which led to social transformations, a revised attitude towards historical elements and historicity in general, as well as a logical appearance of the picture of modern life as a visual comprehension of the epoch. Art lefi traces of the transformation of the public world, of the phenomena of mass activity, street life and a new urban picture. Still, on their journeys around Europe, Serbian artists were more readily fascinated with the symbolism of historical remains of the authentic European than with the new space of the modern city. Idealized and romanticized history caused greater interest than reality which, compared with the past, was considered to be insignificant and prosaic. The appearance of the working classes in Serbia, like in all predominantly rural societies, was closely associated with the process of migrations of villagers in search of jobs. Conditioned by industrialization, spatial mobility of people led to the occurrence of „working migration”, which largely changed the shape of Serbian towns. Spatial mobility did not, however, automatically match social mobility; that is, leaving villages itself did not lead to shaping and accepting a new, urban identity. The feeling of belonging somewhere was still associated with the cult of the homeland, and it disabled essential integration into the new surroundings. Social status, mentality, customs, conditions and living areas were captured in many scenes in Serbian painting. Works in which one can perceive hard city life, poverty and depression reveal facts about social differences that resulted from the processes of modernization, urbanization and industrial advancement. In the course of the Serbian community’s modernization from primordial and traditional values to contemporary and Europeanized ones, the themes and contents of villages and cities were symbolic points of the beginning and end of this process.

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