Zora Petrović je bila slikarka koja je pripadala školi ekspresionizma.
Rođena je u Banatu, a Akademiju na kojoj je studirala slikarstvo upisuje u Budimpešti. Po završetku Prvog svetskog rata prelazi u Beograd gde iznova upisuje Umetničku školu na kojoj i diplomira. Nakon diplomiranja je radila kao nastavnica crtanja u beogradskoj Realki (srednjoj školi) i u Drugoj beogradskoj ženskoj gimnaziji. 1951. godine je postala redovna profesorka na Akademiji likovnih umetnosti, gde je radila do kraja života.
Zora je slikala portrete, pejzaže, mrtvu prirodu. Još kao mlada slikarka stavljana je u rang sa našim najboljim slikarima. Slika Autoportret iz 1919. godine se uzima za svojevrsnu prekretnicu, razilaženje sa akademizmom i pronalaženjem sopstvenog umetničkog izraza. 1925.godine je određeni period provela u Parizu, u ateljeu Andrea Lota. Nakon odlaska u Pariz do izražaja dolazi njeno slikarsko umeće, koje je do tada u određenoj meri bilo u senci crtačkog.
Kada se iz Pariza vratila u Beograd pristupila je umetničkoj grupi Oblik, koja je okupljala veliki broj umetnika iz različitih disciplina. Na izložbama koje je održavalo društvo Oblik, Zorine slike počinju da privlače pažnju kritike. 1934. Zora je imala svoju treću samostalnu izložbu na čijem je otvaranju govor držala Isidora Sekulić. Ona je Zorinu umetnost opisala rečima da ona predstavlja borbu sa sobom i ljudima i snagu kojom ostaje pri svojim šumskim i prohladnim tonovima.
Nakon Drugog svetskog rata, a pod uticajem socijalističkog realizma, Zora se u svojim slikama bavi folklorom i živim bojama slika žene u narodnoj nošnji.
Kritika ističe da je Zora čoveka, koji je najčešće bio predmet njenih slika, prikazivala realistično i da u svom slikarstvu nije pribegavala estetiziranju. Čoveka je slikala i kada je grbav, čvornovat, nezgrapan.
Zora Petrović was an expressionist painter.
She was born in Banat and she was studying on the Academy of arts in Budapest. After the First World War she moved to Belgrade and she started attending the Art school. She got her diploma there and she began teaching in the two different high schools at the same time. In 1951 she became a professor on the Academy of Arts in Belgrade where she worked until the end of her life.
Zora was painting portraits, landscapes and still nature. Even when she was a young painter she was considered important and extremely talented. In 1919 she did a painting called Autoportrait which was a crossroad in her carrier, that was a moment in which she found her own style and where she parted from the academism. In 1925 she spent some time in Paris where her amazing painting skills became obvious – until then she was well known for her drawing talents.
When Zora moved back from Paris to Belgrade she became a member of the artist group called “Shape”, that gathered people from different art disciplines. During the exhibitions that “Shape” organized, Zora’s paintings started attracting attention of the critique. In 1934 Zora had her 3rd solo exhibition which was open by the speech of Isidora Sekulić. She underlined that Zora’s art represent a fight with ourselves and the power of her paintings is in forestry and cold tones.
After the Second World War and under the influence of socialist realism, Zora paints folklore and women in national dresses of bright colors.
Art critique insists that Zora painted a man, who was usually the main focus of her paintings, in his real shape and form. She painted a man even if he was hunched, gnarled and hobbled.