The Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition was closed with the lecture and timeless music of Edith Piaf on the crowded plateau of the Svilara Cultural Station last night. The visitors patiently waited to see his works last night.

Although it was the last night, the visitors showed great interest in the exhibition and accompanying programmes. For almost a month, from 3 to 20 July, the cultural station in the Almaš Neighbourhood has been full with the spirit of France and hosted nearly 4,000 visitors. In that manner Svilara continues to contribute to the development of cultural contents in that part of the city. 
The exhibition ended with the story about Lautrec’s stars, persons that made up the night life of Montmartre and who were Lautrec’s inspiration. This was the third professional lecture, that is, guidance through the exhibition, which was implemented by Ivana Rastović, art historian and curator of the Gallery of Matica Srpska.

For the first two professional guidance held on 6 and 13 July, Stanislava Jovanović and Nikola Ivanović, art historians and curators from the Gallery of Matica Srpska, were in charge. The first professional guidance presented the Lautrec’s time, that is, innovations it brought, such as industrial and technical revolution, as well as new places where Parisians had fun, where Lautrec spent most of his time. The topic of the second professional guidance was Lautrec’s revolution in art and how the artist erased all boundaries – gender, class, race.

French spirit in movies, music, comics

Professional guidance was just part of nine accompanying programmes within the exhibition.

The visitors had a chance to enjoy different music genres in Svilara. First, the music from Parisian cafés in a techno arrangement was played. The ‘Klo Klo’ band from Novi Sad brought the atmosphere of French cabaret, while excellent Daniel Beja and the ‘French Jazz Band’ were in charge for jazz.

The accompanying programme included projections of the documentary movie about Lautrec, as well as the multi-awarded French movie ‘Serafina’, which examines this ingenuity in painting from a female point of view.

Sofija Perović, harpsichord and opera director, took the visitors on the walk through Paris within the ‘Soul of Montmartre’ lecture that dealt with the Lautrec’s originality.

The topic of discussion with the audience, led by Jovan Gvero, one of the leading persons of the Novi Sad comic scene, was Lautrec’s impact on modern art, especially on comics. He particularly talked about the ‘House (Brothel) of Muses’ by Gradimir Smuđa, who created the comics being inspired by Lautrec.

The youngest citizens of Novi Sad got familiar with the techniques of making a collage within the workshop ‘Oh la la … that Wonderful France’, and the topic of their works was, of course, France.