Nikolina Šimunović: Love Dialogues
The Love Dialogues series by Dubrovnik artist Nikolina Šimunović brings together archetypal, Neoplatonic and Petrarchan motifs of love, embodied in whispered pastoral and intimate conversations inspired by Marin Držić’s poetry. Rather than concentrating on Držić’s dramatic works, the artist focuses on him as a poet and song-collection author, reviving his gentle, almost inaudible impulses of love.
The work Muse in the River Beside the Mountain from the Love Dialogues cycle offers watercolor airiness and a sense of timelessness. The Muse glides calmly and unobtrusively through the water, preserved from transience like a wax mask. The artist suspends time in a unique play of motion and stillness, creating a feeling of meditative silence and other-worldly permanence.
Nikolina Šimunović, an academic painter, is known for combining collage and thread stitching on canvas, techniques that build layered, intimate visual narratives. Through these methods she shapes moments of love into harmonious, emotionally rich wholes.
