LITERARY APPROACH: LAURA BARNA’S NOVEL CRVENI PRESEK ABOUT KOSTA MILIČEVIĆ

Abstract

Many writers, from the 18th century onward, have drawn inspiration from visual artworks or the lives of artists themselves, subsequently writing studies, critiques, and monographs about them. This approach has contributed to the creation of new interpretations in the field of art history. Thanks to their imagination, writers and poets have been able to explore areas of art that had not yet been studied and identify new issues. From a scientific perspective, literary interpretation of art has yielded significant results: while some have engaged with the „peripheries” of art history, others have significantly influenced its development. One example of applying the literary approach in Serbian contemporary art history and literature is the work of writer and art historian Laura Barna. Specifically, her novel Crveni presek (2015) deals with the life and work of Impressionist painter Kosta Miličević (1877–1920). The novel’s plot is set in Belgrade between 2005 and 2013. The author, in search of inspiration for her novel, encounters a certain Mathematician who, in his rented apartment – formerly the first Serbian Drawing and Painting School in Dorćol – finds seven drawings by Miličević, allegedly created in 1903 on his way from Munich to Belgrade, which are said to be sketches for a painting made years later, Vido – ostrvo smrti. In the second part of the novel, Kosta Miličević becomes the narrator, sharing his life story and his views on art and Impressionism with the reader. The aim of this paper is to analyze the application of the literary approach in this novel about Miličević, as well as to examine the significance of the portrayal of this artist’s tragic fate in art history.