on the occasion of an exhibition at the Musée de l’Athénée, Geneva
… The works that have so far been exhibited in Geneva contain a great strength the equivalent of which I can see only in some British and American artists, as with Soulage; Murtić’s painting seems to me still more truly powerful, owing this strength not only to the breadth and resolute simplicity of the brushstroke, but also to the opulence of the colours, a richness that is not directed towards violent contrasts, rather to the chords of a fanfare, which is constantly backed up and strengthened by the presence of the black spots of the background, while the uniformly white ground emphasises the play of shades and the graphism as well.
In short, this is a painting that will not support the classification so dear to Michel Seuphor, for it is born both from style and from a cry, from style because the works are not just gestural thoughts, and from the cry because there is a vehemence, an élan and a shriek that well up from the depths of the instinct.
Arnold Kohler, art critic,
TRIBUNE ARTS, Geneva