It is presumed that Paja Jovanović visited Belgrade for the first time during one of his visits to his hometown of Vršac or the southern parts of Serbia in the last decades of the 19th century. Even though he never stayed there longer due to his great engagement and work all around the world, Belgrade was a city he always returned to. As the beginning of the World War II prevented plans for the construction of an art studio in Belgrade, for which drafts had already been made, Paja Jovanović began correspondence with the Belgrade City Museum management in 1950 about the opening of the Legacy. He wanted to best of the selection of his work and tools, the “items worth keeping”, to the city of Belgrade which he considered “his city”. This effort was in order to make an atelier, a master's room, interesting for viewers who would like to know more about him and his work.
The Legacy with more than 800 items was handed over to the Belgrade City Museum in 1952, including, according to the artist's wish, the urn with his remains, after his death in Vienna, on 30th November 1957. As he wished, on 11th June 1970, the urn was transferred and laid to rest forever in the Alley of the Greats at the New Cemetery in Belgrade, and on the same day the Belgrade City Museum fulfilled the second wish of the legator and opened the Museum of Paja Jovanović.
The legacy was completed in 1972 with a gift from the artist's wife Hermine-Mouni Dauber, who left 11 paintings from the private collection and several pieces of antique furniture to the Belgrade City Museum.
Paja Jovanović (Vršac, 1859 - Vienna, 1957) was born in the family of Stevan and Ernestina Jovanović. In 1875, he came with his father to Vienna, where he enrolled at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in 1877. After graduating, he traveled a lot and worked for Paris and London gallerists, and since 1895 he settled permanently in Vienna. He was elected a regular member of the Serbian Royal Academy in Belgrade in 1888.
In his long artistic career, he painted exceptional works: historical compositions Seoba Srba, Proglašenje Dušanovog zakonika (Migration of the Serbs, The Proclamation of Dušan's Law Codex), genre painting such as Kićenjeneveste, Borba petlova, Mačevanje (Decorating of the Bride, Cockfighting and The Fencing lesson), and a large number of portraits of prominent individuals (Mihailo Pupin, King Aleksandar and Queen Marija Karađorđević). He also engaged inreligious painting, painting iconostasis in churches in Dolovo and Novi Sad.
