NMMU ON TOUR
Couples in Croatian Visual Arts – Dialogues of Intimacy and Creativity
City Museum Nova Gradiška https://gmng.hr/, May 6 – June 5, 2026
Curator: Tatijana Gareljić, Museum Advisor at the National Museum of Modern Art

In Croatian visual arts, from the late 19th century to the present day, artistic couples have shaped a continuous, though only fragmentarily researched, current within the development of art. Their relationships reflect broader social transformations, particularly regarding the position of women artists, the redefinition of authorship, and the evolution of artistic media.
Artistic couples in Croatian visual arts are not merely biographical or private facts, but integral elements within wider creative networks. They enable the transmission of knowledge, provide professional and emotional support, encourage organisational and institutional shifts, and create conditions for aesthetic change. From teacher–student relationships and shared marital studios to contemporary collaborative practices in performance and new media, the history of artistic couples reveals how the private and the public, the personal and the professional, are inseparably intertwined in the process of artistic creation.
Drawing from the collections of the National Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition presents an overview of artistic couples in Croatia from the Secession period to the present day. Through 20 works by ten distinguished couples, it traces the transformation of authorship, the changing role of artists, and the development of artistic media. Featured couples include Bela Čikoš Sesija and Slava Raškaj; Menci Clement Crnčić and Lina Virant Crnčić; Branko Šenoa and Nasta Rojc; Ivan Meštrović and Ruža Meštrović; Krsto Hegedušić and Branka Hegedušić; Frano Šimunović and Ksenija Kantoci; Mladen Galić and Ljerka Šibenik; Josip Diminić and Jasna Maretić; Željko Jerman and Vlasta Delimar; as well as Bane Milenković and Lidija Šeler.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue in Croatian, published by the City Museum Nova Gradiška.
The exhibition has been co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Nova Gradiška.

Reproductions: Bela Čikoš Sesija, Female Nude (The Abandoned), 1913, oil on canvas, 89.9 × 177.1 cm / MG-2354 / Slava Raškaj, Water Lilies, 1899, watercolour on paper, 92 × 110 cm / MG-539 / Photo Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb