In the summer of 1981, once again a moment of happiness was found, with a boat that touched the hideaway places of the Croatian coast, in an ecstasy of sun, sea and work. Everything was archaically ceremonial, possessed of satyric power. For the umpteenth time in his life and through his paintings, the old Mediterranean spoke out. Murtić had already got an international career as an abstract painter behind him; indeed, he was recognised as being one of the leading figures from the socialist world. It is fascinating that the painter, in the summer of his inspiration, was able to forget all this. He was once again the youth who felt no obligation to fame, only to nature. In these months the southern parts of his homeland became his truth. Would he keep quiet about it when he came back from his cruise, so as not to interfere with his image? Would he pack away those blinding oils that had gushed from his hands with such incredible power, would he bury them in the studio as just the excesses of a single summer? He was quite in a quandary: to show, or to hide? He was advised to show the lot. The authentic power of the work would protect him against petty censures; its visionariness, the quantity of it, the rapture, the power ... It was as if a boiling lava had flowed out over dozens of canvases and hundreds of sheets of paper. .. He said: "They will crucify me. They won't forgive yet another conversion. " It turned out that the frenetic work was a convincing excuse for the conversion that, anyway, we did not believe in all that much. Every artistic handwriting expert could have confirmed this: however much the contents changed, the writing remained the same. The scalding stone deserts, vineyards in the flames of evening, bays and islands and sea; when we put it all together, the sum is Murtić. In his sixtieth year, the painter had touched, more convincingly than ever, the heart of earth: through leaf, wave and through pine. From the memory welled up the phrase: God is in everything.