Born in Cacak 1873, she died in Valjevo in 1915. Moved with her family to Belgrade in 1884. Finished higher school for women in Belgrade in 1891. Following year she passed her examination for becoming a drawing teacher in higher schools and became student in the studio of painter Djordje Krstic. She attended classes in the private art school of Kirilo Kutlik in the year 1896/97. In 1898 she started her artistic education in the studio of Slovene painter Anton Azbe in Munich.

Already in 1900 her first solo exhibition of paintings was held in Belgrade. In 1901 started working in the studio of Julius Exter in Munich. From 1904 worked in Serbia on organisation of The First Yugoslav Art Exhibition, founding of Lada Artistic Association and The First Yugoslav Art Colony (Sicevo, Pirot 1905). To 1912 exhibited works in numerous exhibitions: Lada Exhibition 1906, The Yugoslav Art Colony Exhibition 1907, Serbian Art Association Exhibition in 1908, second solo exhibition in Ljubljana 1910, same year in Paris at Autumn Salon and in Zagreb with Medulic Art Group. Following year she exhibited her works in Serbian Pavilion at The World Exhibition in Rome, International Union Exhibition and Autumn Salon in Paris.

Belgrade opened her own school for painters and took part in The Fourth Yugoslav Art Exhibition. Years of The First Balkan War spent as voluntary sick nurse at front. Again with Serbian Army in 1913/14. Died in Valjevo, infected by typhus, on duty as a military sick nurse in 1915.

The fine art of Nadezda Petrovic, our most important artist from the beginning of the century, introduces Serbian art in the courses of contemporary European art. Owing to her spirit which from small Serbia longed for modern world and thanks to favorable circumstances that she could go to school and visit fine art centers of Europe at the beginning of 20^th century, her painting mostly kept up with European expressionism and sometimes it was close to, still not famous, abstraction.

In her best works of art large areas dominate as well as her favorite bright reds and complementary green. A love for colors creates a coloration whirlpool where, apart from others, fovistic violet, blue and black are emphasized. Strong strokes of the brush, wide and thick paste applications sometimes changes the canvas into a dynamic relief surface. She liked to paint portraits and landscapes, and her patriotism could be seen in a frequent choice of subject from the national history and in picturing people and regions of Serbia.

The work of Nadezda Petrovic, on the whole, radiates passionate expression, strength and courage of this unique woman-painter from the Balkans. School education in Munich, visits to Paris and Italy and constant coming back to traditional Serbia left a trail on her canvases, so that her opus can be divided into several periods which have been defined by the experts of her work (PHD Katarina Ambrozic, the author of her monograph, PHD Stanislav Zivkovic and others):

Basic bibliography:

• Stanislav Zivkovic, Nadezda Petrovic (1873-1915), ZLUMS, Novi Sad 1966.

• Miodrag B.Protic, Serbian Fine Art of 20^th Century, Book 1, Nolit,  Belgrade 1970.

• Lazar Trifunovic, Serbian Fine Art 1900-1950, Belgrade 1973.

• Katarina Ambrozic, Nadezda Petrovic 1873-1915, Belgrade 1978.

• Katarina Ambrozic, Nadezda Petrovic 1873-1915, Bayerische Staatsgemuldesammlungen / Neue Pinakothek, Munchen 1985.

• The catalog of permanent setting with the quidebook through the collections, The Art Gallery "Nadezda Petrovic", Cacak 1995.

• Nadezda Petrovic 1873-1915 THE PATH OF HONOR AND FAME, catalog, Belgrade 1998.