The Francophonie Month – IMAGES DE FRANCE

In 2025, The Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection continues its long-standing collaborations with foreign institutes, cultural centres, and embassies to boost cultural diplomacy efforts and showcase national artistic heritage,

The exhibition “Images de France” at The Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection this March will mark the Francophonie Month in collaboration with the French Institute in Serbia – Novi Sad Branch. A selection of works from the permanent exhibition will highlight masterpieces of Serbian art created in France, emphasising the cultural ties between Serbia and France established by Pavle Beljanski (1892–1965) and the artists in his collection.

The Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection holds one of the most essential Francophone art collections in Serbia. The personality and taste of our diplomat and collector were greatly shaped by French culture—first at the Sorbonne and later during his stays in Paris. This is evident in this selection of works, which includes artists who spent part of their lives living and creating in France. Contemporaries of Beljanski, such as Milan Konjović, Kosta Hakman, Sava Šumanović, Marko Čelebonović, Petar Lubarda, Peđa Milosavljević, and other key figures of the renowned interwar generation, left a profound mark on the national modern art. The collector formed close friendships with many of them and, sometimes following their suggestions—but always guided by his keen sense for timeless quality—carefully selected representative works for his collection.

A selection of around ten works from the permanent exhibition of Pavle Beljanski highlights different motifs that inspired our artists in France to create some of the most prominent works of art. The guided tour of the exhibition, in Serbian and French, was prepared in collaboration with the French Institute in Serbia – Novi Sad Branch. The accompanying programme for the exhibition “Images de France” at The Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection will be announced later.