05/10/2024
Srećan rodjendan Olja🧡🎂🪩
Olja Ivanjicki’s journey is nothing short of extraordinary. By the age of five, she had already delved into the depths of the Bible, while mastering Russian, French, and German by the tender age of ten – a linguistic skill that would prove precious.
Orphaned early, she became the rock for her father Vasilij, a Russian emigrant, rescuing him from the clutches of the Germans during the harrowing events of the October massacre in Kragujevac. With unwavering confidence and linguistic finesse, she uttered the words that spared her father’s life, distinguishing him as a “white Russian” rather than an enemy combatant.
Her art resides in prestigious museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and graces the private collections of luminaries such as Sophia Loren. For Olja Ivanjicki, success was not merely about the present but about ensuring a lasting legacy. As she eloquently says in her monograph “Očekivanje nemogućeg,” published by Gayo Gallery in 2009 in London, “I strive for both success and longevity, not just for now, but for the future – to ensure that everything remains and endures. That is my path.”
We worked with Olja for many years, and we spent numerous summers at the beach together. She would never arrive without a sparkling garment and words of comfort. She was passionate about empowering women, bright, and forward-thinking—an ongoing inspiration to our beloved art industry, both now and for eternity.