Nadežda Petrović

Nade≈æda Petroviƒá

Nade≈æda Petroviƒá (12 October 1873 ‚Äì 3 April 1915) was born in Serbia in 1873, moving to Belgrade in 1884 to pursue her education. Nade≈æda graduated from the High School for Girls in Belgrade in 1891 and started work as an art teacher. However, she was not satisfied with teaching art and thus enrolled in a private school to study under the artist Anton Azbe in Munich. Nade≈æda soon found her niche in the Impressionist movement of late 19th and early 20th Century Europe.

She became known as Serbia’s foremost authority on Impressionism, which led to her being appointed a teacher and lecturer at numerous universities in Belgrade. As well as receiving a stipend from the Serbian government to produce artwork to be shown across Europe. Whilst on one tour of Europe, Nade≈æda became aware of the political tensions throughout various European nations. It is thought that her political astuteness, as well as the nursing of her mother through her final illness, led Nade≈æda to become a nurse in 1913. She saw her skills as a nurse used in the Balkans war of 1912 to 1914 and again volunteered on the outbreak of World War One, later in 1914.

Sadly, Nade≈æda’s role as a nurse was short lived as she died of typhoid on 3rd April 1915, less than a year after volunteering for the Serbian Army. Nade≈æda is remembered in Serbia as a national hero, and is commemorated in bank notes, statues as well as through regular exhibitions of her Impressionist paintings.

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