Prayer as a Mercy. Alphonse Mucha and Predrag Djaković

The exhibition Prayer as Mercy represents a dialogue between the artworks of two painters from different eras: Alphonse Mucha, who created in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, and Predrag Djaković (1964), a contemporary artist. Thematically, the exhibition shows the sufferings of the Serbian, Czech and Jewish people that happened in the 20th century, points to unfortunate events that we must not forget, but with the power of artistic expression inscribes them in the collective memory so that they never happen again. The audience will have the opportunity to meet for the first time the monumental work of Alphonse Mucha Mercy – Charitas from 1886 (154×451 cm) and three drawings from the mature phase of his work from private collections of Czech collectors. Mucha’s works inspired Predrag Djaković to create artworks and installations, and in this way he provided a new framework for the Holocaust as an inexhaustible source for artistic creation in his own artistic oeuvre. Nine compositions by Predrag Djaković performed in different materials, together with four other works by Alphonse Mucha, interpret in a contemporary way the tragedy of our civilization in a mixed historical course.