“Topography of Emotions: Faces and Streets”

Painter Natasha Bakovic presents the first part of the exhibition title Topography of Emotions. She represents a rare phenomenon among artists, creating beyond the borders of her home country. The figures she portrays most often appear within intimate domestic interiors—both in Croatia and in France. They are frequently depicted in moments of contemplation, emotionally sensitive and aware of the transience of time, yet equally conscious of the invaluable beauty of fleeting moments of happiness.

Bakovic spent part of her youth in Russia, in Saint Petersburg, where she graduated from the St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. E. Repin. She later spent several years in Poland. In this sense, she can be regarded as a truly pan-European artist—one who connects the cultural sensibilities of East and West.

Her artistic oeuvre is devoted, on the one hand, to portraits of those closest to her—family members, friends, and acquaintances—and, on the other hand, to nature, a space in which the artist herself finds inspiration and serenity. She enjoys spending time particularly in Dalmatia during the summer and in the French Alps during the winter, where she also maintains a studio alongside her principal studio in Zagreb, where she lives and works and where she regularly organizes art workshops.

At the present exhibition in the gallery of the DLUM association, of which she is a member, titled Topography of Emotions: Faces and Streets, Bakovic presents, in addition to portraits of acquaintances, also “portraits” of streets, cities, and places that remain deeply engraved in her memory—places that recall beautiful moments experienced there.

The interiors in her paintings frequently open toward an exterior space, establishing a dialogue with the outside world—much like Baroque portraiture in which interior scenes communicate with landscapes beyond. It is as though the portrayed figures inhabit several spatial and temporal dimensions simultaneously.

A particularly evocative example is the painting Near the Stove with Babushka, which depicts an elderly woman seated in a dark kitchen interior. The scene unfolds within a characteristic Russian rural setting rich in color. The gentle figure of the elderly woman, surrounded by her cooking utensils beside the open stove door where firewood is being placed, reveals the glow of a living flame—perhaps a flame from another time.

The painting Winter, featured on the catalogue cover, portrays an elderly man in a woolen cardigan standing before a multi-paned window. A richly decorated curtain partly covers the window, while most of it opens onto a snowy forest landscape. The motif subtly recalls the compositions of Johannes Vermeer, particularly his portraits of women positioned near windows.

A comparable atmosphere appears in the painting First Snow, portraying a young mother holding a child in her arms before an arched window opening onto a snow-covered cityscape, once again evoking a nostalgic sense of a time long past.

In contrast stands the full-length portrait of a young woman in an autumn park. She is dressed in a vibrant woolen coat and wears a distinctive two-part hat composed of yellow and orange leaves.

Memories of childhood resonate in works such as Cold Waters of the Neva, Night. Petersburg, and Petersburg Night. Recollections of travel appear in cityscapes including Small Street (Warsaw), Hot Day, Magical Wrocław, Towards Sacré-Cœur, and Oriental Fairy Tale (Istanbul), among others.

In addition to her distinctive subject matter, Bakovic employs a particular technique in the application of oil paint on canvas. Alongside traditional brushwork, she uses a special palette knife to model the surface of the painting, creating a textured effect that, when viewed up close, resembles coarse weaving or small-scale tapestries.

Through her refined portraits, landscapes, and city views, Natasha Bakovic reveals memories drawn from the depths of her inner world—memories into which the viewer may also enter, opening their own gaze toward the nostalgic topography of emotions created by this widely awarded artist.

— Mario Berdić Codella

English translation of the curatorial text from Slovenian.