Sarajevo University (UNSA) awarded an honorary doctorate (gradus doctoris honoris causa) to Slobodan Braco Dimitrijevic, on Thursday, for his exceptional contribution to the development of art, and especially because of the importance of his creative work in the history of Bosnian art.

The UNSA Rector, Rifat Skrijelj, said that today's meeting is an opportunity to emphasize the University's mission and which is not only the increase of the corpus of learned knowledge and its transmission, but also the contribution to the general well-being of society.

“Braco Dimitrijevic is a debt to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the world, because he raised the glory of art to the highest level,” Skrijelj noted.

In a statement to the media, Braco Dimitrijevic tearfully said that the title of honorary doctor means a lot to him.

“It means a lot to me, precisely because Sarajevo once again showed its avant-garde and remains on the trail of what it always was,” Dimitrijevic said.

He is honored, he said, because it is difficult for people in this environment to be recognized, it is difficult for them to receive recognition.

Slobodan Braco Dimitrijevic is a unique and historically significant exponent of the BiH scene of fine arts internationally, where he acts as a pioneer of the most influential tendencies in the 20th century and as an indispensable participant in the progressive artistic trends of the past decades.

In a career spanning more than half a century, he held 160 solo exhibitions around the world, and participated in three Documenta, five Venice Biennales and dozens of thematic exhibitions. His works are kept in more than 80 public collections, including the Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art New York, Musée Georges Pompidou Paris, Tate Modern London, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin, Museum Ludwig Wien and Cologne.