The exhibition Phenomenology of Disquiet opened on 15 July 2026 at the Virovitica City Museum, forming part of the ongoing NMMA on Tour cycle. This programme was established to allow the National Museum of Modern Art to present portions of its collection to the public during the restoration of its home, the Vranyczany-Dobrinović Palace, in partnership with museums and galleries in Croatia and abroad.
Curated by Tea Hatadi, PhD, Director’s Assistant at the National Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition presents a selection of 24 exceptional works by doyens of modernism and high modernism drawn from the National Museum of Modern Art’s collections — including paintings, sculptures, objects, installations, photographs and works on paper. The dominant theme is the experience of disquiet, especially that arising from the individual’s private, intimate sphere.
According to the curator, the disquiet present in artworks of the modern period is no longer connected to the canon of sacred themes such as the Apocalypse. Instead, it develops into a disquiet rooted in the present, one that is not necessarily collective but becomes profoundly individual.
In the European and Croatian contexts, the influence of existentialist philosophy fostered a growing awareness of the many contemporary causes of anxiety. Works imbued with this sense of disquiet convey it through their very imagery or formal qualities, their surface and underlying structure; and they incorporate the artist’s lived, often traumatic, experience. They captivate, provoke curiosity, and call upon the observer to formulate an individual and independent interpretation.

Artists featured in the exhibition: Marijan Detoni, Edo Murtić, Goranka Vrus Murtić, Boris Demur, Ivo Friščić, Đurđica Zanoški-Gudlin, Ivan Kožarić, Valerije Michieli, Marijan Jevšovar, Miroslav Šutej, Šime Perić, Kuzma Kovačić, Željko Jerman, Antun Maračić, Ivo Gattin, Josip Klarica, Matko Mijić, Renata Poljak.
The exhibition at the Virovitica City Museum remains on view until 6 September, and has been made possible with financial assistance from the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Virovitica. A Croatian-language catalogue accompanies the exhibition, featuring a text by Tea Hatadi, PhD, published by the Virovitica City Museum, and designed by Ivan Borbaš.

Photo: Installation view. Photo Goran Vranić