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Where is that fascinating connection in the oeuvre of Predrag Todorovic, composed of various painting techniques? What is it that connects depiction of nature, animals and people? Is it the ancient ground of homeland, the ancient Greek above all, or is it the recollection on the Middle Ages which reaches all the way to Renaissance and Romanticism? Is it the world of fairy tales and dreams, or perhaps something truly painter-like, as a means of painting and usage of colours, which is so very characteristic of the entire creative endeavour?

It is the very posaic, that most powerful ancient element, which offers the sense of closeness. The motifs in the circular and square medallions are inserted in the delighful coloration of the earth, that is to say stone. These could include peacocks, herons or other „heavenly birds"; or perhaps a vivacious horse with the dynamically centred background; variously shaped centaurs, with or without a lyre, which do not struggle but are peaceful like shepherds, followed by goats and Pans - satyrs with goat legs. Goats, being the most important domestic animal of old shepherds, are modelled with love. This also accounts for the cock with its light red comb.

The golden-yellow mosaic of winged Hypnos designed as a sun medallion leads us to imaginary worlds of oil paints and pastels. And once again we discover the fairy tale creatures which give life to the fantastic nature. The centaurs represent the motifs here; Pegasus captured in a leap above the moonlit landscape, an eagle with lion claws - Griffon and fairies in their dance. The very titles of the oil paintings point to the symbolics, the metaphor of dreams and fairy tales, such as The Pond of Recollections, The Towers Full of Secrets, The Moon-Towers, The Afternoon of a Faun (L'apresmidi...), and The Lady with the Unicorn,... The palace of Despot Stefan might remind us of Istanbul before being conquered by Mehmet or it might be Atlantis before the flood. There is no lack of religious titles either. The classical temptation of Saint Anthony is represented as „above and under the world" with the glimpses of God in the middle and with the shy hints of halos of angles and saints above the dark ground. In the background of all these titles there are fantastic, most usually panoramically represented landscapes which bear resemblance to a kind of historical-Romantic art of painting. The Grail castles and the mountain towns, above which towers, ancient aqueducts and temples rise, are perceived at dusk, in the moonlight and on the flash of lightning. The paint applied to the paintings is pasty (paste-like), which is characteristic of pastels. They are often pointillist and these are the chords of mosaics. The countours are shaded, which is the reflection of dream presentation. The darker shades of colours are combined since the artist rarely uses primary colours. The dominant colours are dark blue and violet, which above all gradually change into the rosy colour of the sky reflected in the water so that the pure white colour of the light is rarely used. Contrary to this palette, the colours such as brown, ochre and green-brown are usually subordinated. The yellow colour of the sun is rare - it emerges occasionally as gentle sparkling in the sky or as the reflection of the sun in the water. Just a few paintings do not belong to that blue-red group, such as the green aqueduct in green and orange colour, or the romantic nature in brown, ochre or yellow colour, which with their colours of sand and „tectonic" shapes of plants resemble the silhouette of an Arabic town.

The set of ten paintings from Venice after the storm, that is to say the tempest, using the above mentioned palette of red and blue colours, bear the following titles: Emerald Venice, Moonlit Venice, Coral Venice; All these reveal the mystical beauty of these colours. The painter mostly uses natural landscapes such as the sea, the coast and the bare (Karst) hills in his watercolours. The emotional view-point of the artist in the darkness of rain and a storm is characterised by the palette of dark colours from black-blue, grey-blueto blue-green. Argonauts sail in a little boat along the coast under the veil of rain. The titles of these watercolours are distinctive: Before the Storm, War Isle, Lunar Dream, Rainbow Trail. The horizon in them is distant so that the sky full of clouds, which takes up two thirds of the painting, dominates. In the paintings, presenting the landscapes covered with vast expanses of water, the line of the horizon creates and optical moment which equals to three fourths, which istypical of many marines. Contrary to this, there are the snow­capped hills painted in late winter, or perhaps the beautiful presentations of architecture in watercolour in „The Dream of Sky-Anchoress", which represent visual arabesques. The motif of this dome-like space, through which the light breaks, is done in pastels. The well-known term „Anchorage", i.e. tying to the sky, could be used here. It was in the same manner that Tambour drew Hagia Sophia, the largest Byzantine dome, as floating and tied to the sky by the golden chain.

Thus, when being introduced to the impressive artwork of Predrag Todorovic, one lapses into thought, as it is commonly said. Apart from on human warmth, which especially radiates from one of the paintings of an old woman, one must reflect on the darkness and blitheness of nature, on fantasy, symbols and surrealists in the art of painting, whose indirect influence is felt in these works.