From September 9th to 19th, 2024, an exhibition of drawings by Princess Jelisaveta Karađorđević/Elizabeth Karageorgevich will be held at the Parish House of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Ljubljana, organized by the association Art Without Borders.
Born in Belgrade, in the White Palace, Jelisaveta was the only girl among the princes of the Karađorđević family. She is the daughter of Prince Regent Paul and Princess Olga Karađorđević.
When she was just five years old, her family was exiled from Yugoslavia following the coup d’état on March 27, 1941. Princess Jelisaveta spent her childhood and youth in Kenya, South Africa, Switzerland, France, and Great Britain, before her life path led her to the United States.
She returned to Yugoslavia for the first time in 1987, briefly and almost incognito. From 1989 onwards, she frequently visited Belgrade, helping with humanitarian work during the war years, assisting wounded individuals, and children who lost their parents and homes in the bloody Balkan conflict, and using her social influence to attempt to stop the war. Additionally, she actively engaged in ecology and preserving the world’s cultural heritage.
Princess Jelisaveta Karađorđević, along with her father Prince Paul, a great art lover and collector, developed a passion for and understanding of art, eventually studying art history. She has supported many artists, young scientists, and athletes through her foundation by funding their education and training.
With a curious spirit, openness to new knowledge, and a cosmopolitan worldview, Princess Jelisaveta has travelled everywhere and seen everything. She has been involved in the preservation of several sites of world cultural heritage, facilitated understanding among people, opened doors for the Balkan nations, and acted as a cultural ambassador for her country. She spoke openly about issues that others were silent on and strived to live by the motto of her Foundation: “Service is love in action.”
The drawings presented to the Slovenian audience are of more recent dates. Those from earlier periods are not included in the exhibition simply because they are not in Princess Jelisaveta’s possession. Over the past decade, Princess Jelisaveta has exhibited her works in Belgrade, Kotor, Sombor, Subotica, and Kruševac. However, all these works were sold for humanitarian purposes, contributing to both the homes of many families and fulfilling Princess Jelisaveta’s main mission—to help those in need. The works currently exhibited in Slovenia were also shown last spring in Budapest and continue their journey after Slovenia.
Through her drawings, Princess Jelisaveta captures encounters, situations, and emotions, translating them into colors and shapes. Her skill in observation, inherent wit, and sharpness transform these artistic “notes” into small drawing gems of a unique yet recognizable style. The striking color, succinctness, and variety of forms do not allow for a casual glance; they invite viewers to look deeper, recognize details, and grasp the thread that Princess Jelisaveta weaves through her entire artistic oeuvre, leaving a profound impression of a developed artistic expression and a refined sense of beauty and nobility.
Anyone who has met Princess Jelisaveta and been struck by her directness, the radiance she exudes, and her ever-present smile, understands immediately that beauty and nobility are personal baggage one is born with—either you have it or you don’t. This artistic-aesthetic-human baggage of Princess Jelisaveta is larger than all the suitcases that Prince Paul’s family had to leave behind in Belgrade in just four hours in 1941. It is a suitcase full of memories, years of struggle for truth and justice, for correcting historical injustices done to Prince Paul’s family and all the Karađorđevićs, a life full of life, and always, above all, the beautiful things that Princess Jelisaveta, despite life’s circumstances, sees in everything around her. Part of this immense album includes the drawings exhibited in Ljubljana, which, with their vividness, not only invite us to observe them for a long time but also in some way embrace them and imprint them within us as a special breath of life.
