The foothills of the mountains in the northern region of Montenegro, its vast pastures, meadows, and fields are rich with a diverse world of blooming plants during May and June. These communities of various botanical species captivate with their fragrance and beauty and represent a true botanical attraction: Bjelolisti runolist, hajdučka trava, žuti jablan, dokoljena, jaglika, kaćun, perunika, Nikolina zečina, Lakušićev karanfil, mirisna ljubičica, majčina dušica, bijela rada, kozja brada, trava od vjetra, cvijet od tuge.

The blossoming endemic plant species have been subtly captured, from bud to petal, in miniature paintings by the artist Milanka Đuranović Bajčetić. The works are imbued with the painter’s lyrical inspiration: through color, brushstroke, and light, the light of the Mediterranean climate. She carefully selects large, vividly colored blossoms and transfers them onto the painting surface. This theme has been skillfully conceived. With broad strokes of bright colors, she paints flower after flower in the time of floral abundance, from the period of blooming to their disappearance in August.

The transience of flowering fields has been conceived by the artist through the diligent arrangement of dried multicolored petals and bouquets on the painting surface, creating floral collages through patient work. She applies an artistic technique that, after Cubism, was almost neglected in visual art, yet which archetypally and subconsciously reappears in the floral themes of the painter Milanka Đuranović Bajčetić. Skillfully, she has created collages of dried flower petals on paper, cardboard, and fiberboard: ”Žena sa šeširom” (Woman with a Hat), ”Ljubav” (Love), ”Jesen” (Autumn), ”Jezero” (Lake).

In these works, the coloristic beauty of the floristic fading of flower fields is preserved, as well as the richness of autumn hues of leaves in groves and forest landscapes. 
The painter has expanded the thematic scope of her work from Montenegrin endemic plant species to the beauty of blossoming fields and the poetic allure of their fading, employing the visual art technique of collage. This unusual thematic concept and artistic approach captivate attention and leave no exhibition visitor indifferent, particularly those from the field of botany.

Kolašin, 9. oktobar, 2025.
Draginja Kujović, art historian