Serbian Pavilion 2026: Through Golgotha to Resurrection

The painter, Predrag Đaković is announced as the representative of Serbia at 61st Venice Biennale.

Đaković is a Serbian Czech painter born in 1964 in former Yugoslavia. He completed his secondary education in Belgrade and has lived in Prague since his time studying painting at the city’s Academy of Fine Arts. He was awarded the Gold Medal for extraordinary achievement in art by Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić in 2022, and has received awards from other Serbian cultural organisations in recent years. Đaković’s project, submitted by the Archives of Vojvodina and entitled Through Golgotha ​​to Resurrection , will interrogate European history, identity, and ideology through 320 square metres of paintings and installations, including 14,600 pieces of archival material. Belgrade-based artist Nemanja Nikolić describes the selection as ‘part of a long-standing pattern’ of opaque procedures by the Commission. He identifies Đaković’s paintings as belonging to a ‘national-kitsch’ aesthetic that reflects the government’s cultural policy.

What to expect:
Painting, Installation