Nikola Milojević (1865-1942) was the favourite painter of Belgrade's merchants, craftsmen and public officials. For decades he had painted portraits in a naturalist style on a neutral background, without entering into the psychology of the model. His best painting in this genre was his Self-portrait.
This painting, unique in his works, is specific by the composition of the picture as a whole. It is painted in an innovative way on the unprepared wooden palette with four painting brushes in the finger hole and a metal plate, thus creating freshness and directness. The portrait, arranged in this way, was then fixed on a red velvet background and put under glass with a neo-classicist frame. The Self-portrait of Nikola Milojević represents a unique experiment, with a suggestive inspiration, and stands out, by itself, among his works. It is one of his three preserved self-portraits, painted in 1900 Belgrade in his studio at 30 Knez Mihailova Street.