2022, Opening Palace Of Art, Belgrade

Many were present, including the Italian ambassador to Serbia, Luca Gori, who said “Madlena and Philip Zepter choice of opening this museum with an Italian artist, is a further confirmation of their love for our culture – a love we must continue to invest in”.

Attending this special event there were also many VIP from the showbusiness, world renewed artists and journalist, as well as art critics, all to celebrate this new concept become true. The Madlena Art Palace is yet another proof of the Zepter’s desire to support and promote art at an international level, with the idea that this new center and all the cultural events it will host can act as a bridge between Serbia and all the most important artistic and cultural movements of the modern world.

Carla Tolomeo Exhibition

The opening of the Palace was marked by an exhibition of the work of the world-famous Italian artist, Carla Tolomeo, sponsored by Formitalia and Mirabili - Arte d’Abitare, a series of creations uniting sculpture and painting. This is the first time that Carla Tolomeo has exhibited in Belgrade, housed in Madlena Art Palace. She contributed also by shaping the ornaments in the small theatre inside the palace. Working with her creativity, making shapes, lines, surfaces, volumes, proportions and rhythms, the artist has produced a series of small armchairs which surrounds the whole area set aside for acting, and are themselves designed as attractive works of art, decorated with multi-coloured textiles.

The main theme in her works is the concept of infinite blended with various animal shapes, vegetables, creating abstract compositions which turn each object into a work of art. Each work is a ‘unique piece’, original and different, and personally conceived and made by the artist. She admits that she hardly ever designs in advance: inspiration comes from the material itself, the colour suggests a composition which takes form by trial and error, until the perfect balance comes out of the work, so then the object of art is conceived and achieved.

The Stars of Lyric Performance

A solemn moment, much appreciated by those present, was the concert of great performers of Italian and international lyric music: Fabio Armiliato (tenor), Silvia Colombini (soprano), Gianluca Sciarpelletti (tenor), Chiara Giudice (soprano), Marika Lichter (mezzosoprano)
 

Madlena Zepter

This is the text taken from Madlena’s opening speech at the opening of Madlena Palace of Art.

“Two important moments in our lives happened at the same time and in the same place – at the end of September, in our beloved Belgrade, we celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary and the conclusion of our ambitious project to open a cultural center, in which we invested five years of creativity, dedication and love. Philanthropy is our principle and our guiding light. The Madlena Palace of Art is the sum of the efforts of our whole lives, a legacy to the future with which my husband and I can top a series of successes, such as: the Foundation for scientific, technical and cultural projects; the Zepter Gallery, subsequently turned into the Zepter Museum; the Madl’Art auction house, which has been operating for twenty years; the Zepter Book World publishing house; the Madlenianum Theatre and Opera; the Zepter creative Studio, which works in the field of cinema and TV production; the Fund awarding scholarships to talented young students and athletes, as well as two prestigious awards of international repute– the Prix Litteraire Europeen Madlena Zepter (for literature) and the Zepter International Award Artzept (for the best performances in the fields of design and applied arts), which has now been awarded for 18 years (in 2022 some 200 enrolment forms were received from all over the world. Events organized at the Madlena Palace of Art must be avantgarde in spirit, but they must also be attractive; they must support the artistic potential of young people, but they must also act as a bridge between Serbia and the most important cultural events taking place in the contemporary world. We can confidently affirm that with this opening ceremony a cultural light has been lit which will illuminate the world to come and pay homage to the great commitment displayed by the Zepters."