Artist Interviews 2025

Marija Stefanović  
By Julia Siedenburg



Who better to introduce themself than the artist herself: My name is Marija Stefanović, I’m a self-taught illustration artist living in Prague, Czechia, and in Finistère, in the region of Brittany, France. I’m a traditional artist painting with gouache and watercolor on paper.

What I’d like to add is that Marija’s drawings are storybook-perfect. They are beautiful images of cozy and comforting worlds, some of which might be familiar to you, dear reader. With her work, she transports you to breathtaking sceneries making you wish you could just jump through the page and escape there right now. I hope you feel as happy and calm looking at her work as I do and I hope you enjoy our interview.



In which way would you say people benefit from experiencing art?

In a broad sense, I think art can give a person the opportunity to experience something that he or she needs deep inside, be it certain feelings, emotions, ideas, a certain atmosphere, or memories. The world of art is very diverse, and these can be absolutely different things. It all depends on a particular work of art and a particular audience. And, whatever feelings and emotions these are, art acts as a pill that fills a person’s need for something difficult to get in everyday life in any other way. I believe this is the important role of art and this is what distinguishes “true art” - the ability to give people feelings and emotions. That is why it’s so precious for me when people say my paintings evoke a feeling of nostalgia or inspiration, pleasant memories, or a feeling of peace and security in them. When customers buy my artworks or commission me to create unique pieces and hang them in their homes because they love looking at them. When I understand that my art does not leave people indifferent. Even though I think our world is a wonderful place, I know that there is a lot of evil and pain in it. As an artist, I have always wanted to create something that would bring people a feeling of warmth, comfort, and faith in good amid the chaos and hardships of everyday life. To create good as opposed to evil, beautiful and aesthetic as opposed to ugly, inspiring as opposed to hopeless. I have always looked for this in art myself and when I started creating art with my own hands I clearly understood that my art would be exactly like this, aesthetic and cozy.



Who are your biggest artistic inspirations?

I like some artists, such as Dave Rheaume and Fabienne Delacroix, but I would hardly say that their art is the source of my own artistic inspiration. In my case, it would be more correct to replace “who” with “what” in the question, since I draw inspiration from completely different things that do not so much tell me what to paint or how to paint it, but rather bring me to a special state of mind that makes me create. These are completely different things and some of them have little direct relation to my art. Among them are walks in nature and along the ocean coast, works of classical literature, views of the countryside and old cities of Europe, folklore, ancient menhirs, castles and churches of Brittany, jazz music and fado by Amália Rodrigues, and even old English detective novels. Completely different things create comfortable conditions for my consciousness, inspire me, and contribute to my creative work.



What do you feel when creating your illustrations? Is it a calming activity or rather an exciting one?

It’s definitely a calming, even healing, activity for me and I guess it is reflected in my artwork. I like to work in the evenings. I usually light candles and put on my favorite music or an audiobook. I also like it when it is raining or snowing outside. All this creates an atmosphere that helps me relax and immerse myself in creativity.



You paint beautiful and idyllic scenes of different places and people. Which would you say is your favorite piece and why?

I would say that my favorite piece is “Window with a sea view”. There is especially “much of me” in it. This painting is inspired by my life in Brittany, the views and things that surround me in my favorite place on Earth. It contains the gusts of wind blowing from the ocean, the sharp movements of seagulls in the sky, the echoes of Eliane Pronost’s songs, and the calm and solitude of this place.



Your work is motivated by different seasons of the year. Which is your favorite one to portray and one that is rather difficult?

I find beauty and inspiration in every season, but my favorite ones to paint are autumn and winter. Since ancient times these seasons have been known as a “dark part of the year” giving a person, among other things, space and time for an internal dialogue. This is probably why I find these seasons the most artistically inspiring and productive, not to mention the stunning natural colors and ancient traditions of autumn and winter that have come to us from our ancestors. Probably the most difficult season for me to paint is summer. I have often asked myself why, and I tend to think that the reason is that this season is the least in line with my personality and the least conducive to my creative work.



Some of your illustrations are inspired by known stories such as “Pride and Prejudice”. Do you have a favorite scene from a book or movie you painted?

I have not yet created many illustrations inspired by specific books or movies, so it’s difficult to single out a specific scene. However, in the future, I would be happy to illustrate new editions of literary works that give an artist like me a wide scope for creativity. For example, novels by Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Guy de Maupassant, Daphne du Maurier, Anton Chekhov, Louisa May Alcott, and modern authors. As a lover of folklore, I would also be interested in creating illustrations that can transport the audience to the world of ancient stories, beliefs, and mysticism of our ancestors.



Please tell us a bit about your childhood and upbringing.

Luckily, I was born into a family that has always supported my creative development from an early age. Without trying to make me precisely an artist, a musician, or a writer, my family members introduced me to the world of art and allowed me to choose my own path in this world. I come from a family whose members have been writing, drawing, painting, self-educating, and creating for generations. And their interests have never been limited to the everyday, mundane things. I believe I inherited this approach to life and the closest members of my family have always supported me in this. I remember when I was a child my granny read me the poems of Charles Baudelaire and Walt Whitman, and we loved to spend the evenings talking about literature. My mom took me to the best cities in Europe so that I could get to know different cultures, languages, historical places, and galleries with collections of art by old masters. I have many more examples. Thanks to the involvement of my loved ones, art has become an important part of my life since childhood and has remained there forever, encouraging me to be both an enthusiastic consumer of art in its various forms and its creator.



Your illustrations were most recently part of a fairytale book called Grandes Histórias Para Pequenos Viajantes. How did this collaboration happen, and how was your overall experience?

This was the first book I illustrated and, although other publications followed, this experience will always remain in my heart. Perhaps what any artist or illustrator needs most at the early stage of their career is recognition and trust. This is what Mariana Machado, an author and publisher from Brazil, gave me. She chose me among so many artists and invited me to illustrate a wonderful book with a modern adaptation of classic fairy tales in Portuguese. The complete trust that Mariana placed in me and her belief in my talent made this experience the best I could have had. Because on the one hand, it was a challenging and intense job that required strict adherence to the text and compliance with certain requirements, and on the other hand I was given maximum freedom of interpretation, which allowed me to express my own artistic vision. A truly amazing experience and I will always be grateful to the people who allowed me to have it.



What collaboration would you love to have? Any specific book magazine or newspaper you wish to add your illustration to?

I am enthusiastic about any possible collaborations. As an illustrator, I am very flexible and open to a variety of projects and ideas. I never wanted to limit myself to a desire to work with specific publishers. Because you never know what a new day will bring you and what tempting opportunities may open up in places you knew nothing about yesterday. I have already worked with publishers from the UK, Australia, Brazil, France, Portugal, and the USA, and would be happy to see my illustrations on the pages of publications in these and other countries around the world. In addition, I would be interested in working in different genres. From illustrating children's books, fairy tales, and folklore to illustrating works of classical and modern literature and creating narrowly thematic illustrations.



What is next? What are your plans for the future?

I currently have several collaborations planned with great publishers. I hope to be able to share the outcomes of our productive work in 2025 and 2026 with great joy! I also continue to create illustrations for magazines in Europe and beyond as well as my volunteer work as an illustrator with organizations such as Ajudaris in Portugal. I am always open to new collaborations and proposals and I am sure there will be many more interesting projects in the near future. Since I not only paint but also write stories, another important goal of mine is to get my own book published, which will be both written and illustrated by me. I dream of holding this treasure in my hands one day - the result of many years of hard work and development!