Background
Bašičević was born in Šid, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now in Serbia and died in 1972 in Šidem (the same)
Bašičević was born in Šid, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now in Serbia and died in 1972 in Šidem (the same)
He left the country during both World War I to escape conscription and during World World War II to avoid the Ustašest He resisted collective farming and was periodically jailed on dubious charges by the political police. His first major showing was at a Belgrade gallery in 1963, and was very controversial because of Bašičeviċ"s political stance.
The painter took the surname "Bosilj" as a pseudonym for the showings.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, his work was popular in Europe, often showcased in Zagreb and Belgrade but also Amsterdam and Paris. Bašičeviċ"s work is partially art brut and partially naïve art and most of his work is oil on canvas.
Much of his work dealt with religion and folk legends and two-headed and two-faced creatures are a common theme. Unlike the traditional peasant style of his region, Bosilj created a flat two-dimensional world often inhabited by men and demons, snakes, fish, anthropomorphic creatures and spacemen.
He gave many of his paintings to found an art museum in his home town in 1970.