PASSION AND PAIN IN THE VISUAL AND POETIC EXPRESSIONS OF MILENA PAVLOVIĆ BARILLI

This study analyses the connection between Milena Pavlović Barilli's (1909-1945) painting and poetry and the harsh circumstances she encountered throughout her life. Her childhood was difficult as her parents lived separately and in two countries. The unstable family environment significantly shaped her personality. Her education was intermittent and required travel to different countries. Barilli spoke three foreign languages before she completed primary school and wrote poetry in all three. However, in her native Serbian language, she wrote only her first and saddest poem. Her first lyrics resonate throughout her poetry. Her work was deeply influenced by her nomadic lifestyle. The exposure to various national and artistic traditions led to an oeuvre which bears traces of several artistic styles. The most distinctive influences on Barilli’s work were Metaphysical and Surrealist poetry and painting. Living far from home and her closest family, she often coped with feelings of nostalgia and the fear of rejection, which significantly influenced her poetry and her visual art. Apart from her lifestyle, Barilli’s work was shaped by her encounters with poets and painters in places where she lived. The paper examines how Barilli’s life experience and artistic influences contributed to her distinctive artistic space, which is expressed in her multimedia work.