The collection Nadežda and Contemporaries contains the paintings of famous serbian painter Nadežda Petrović and the authors who were her contemporaries, originated from 1900 to 1950. The basic part of thис collection are mostly the artists who reached their artistic tendencies and creative maturity during the years between two World Wars. Looking at historically and artistically, the collection comprises the authors who were the pioneers of changes at the beginning of the 20^th century, but at the same time, they were the nucleus of Serbian modern art. The most of them were educated in Munich and that their main preoccupation was treatment of the problem of light- the influence of the ideas of the French plein-air and impressionism, may contribute to the uniqueness of a particular view of the collection the authors represented in this collection belong to different trends and poetics, therefore the collection is heterogeneous in style. Nevertheless, one can speak about viewing the most important trends and problems in art of that time. The most significant author in the collection is certainly Nadežda Petrović, European modern artist and a pioneer of Serbian modern art. Beyond all the courses, she freed herself from conventional solutions -she exceeded the traditional academic trend striving to degrade the firm system of the realistic painting with strong colours and dense paint factura. In her work she managed to reconcile apparently irreconcilable – to turn her painting in contemporary European style (Expressionism, Fauvism and Impressionism), but, at the same time, managed to remain thematically almost exclusively a national painter. Her 12 paintings are permanently exhibited in Nadežda’s memorial room.

This collection contains 48 paintings painted by 25 authors. Next to Nadežda there are well-known names of Serbian art scene –Beta Vukanović, Dragomir Glišić, Vidosava Kovačević, Živorad Nastasijević, Ivan Radović, Leposava Pavlović, Borivoje Stevanović, Sava Šumanović etc. The collection includes the works of lesser-known artists, and several works of local artists.