"Selimović in Gold", acrylic on canvas board, Bishop Maxim, 2025

In this evocative portrait, Meša Selimović, the great Yugoslav writer, is captured in a moment of profound contemplation—his gaze cast aside, as if searching the silence for answers long buried. On his right, emerging like memory from shadow, is the faint, spectral shape of a dervish—the haunted hero of "Dervish and Death"—a figure born of Selimović’s grief, forged in the fire of fraternal loss. Beneath them, flowers bloom—yet each petal bears the echo of a human face, as if sorrow has taken root and blossomed into witness. Gold dominates the palette, tracing the lines of Selimović’s face not with glory, but with the solemn weight of wisdom hard-won.