Vesna Trokter and Charles Billich (Photo: Private album)
By Steve Ravić
The hospital room has become the Billich Artelier after surviving serious health complications
After a whirlwind of successes in 2025, from receiving official accolades from UNESCO, to stepping onto the world’s biggest stage to hand over a large oil painting to Marko Perković Thompson, Croatia’s most celebrated singer, in front of more than half a million people, the health of award-winning artist Charles Billich has not been on his side in 2026.
Billich will turn 92 on September 6, 2026, but little did he know earlier this year that his health would become so frighteningly compromised that there was a strong possibility he might never reach his 92nd birthday.
In and out of hospital for the first few months of the year, things eventually escalated to the point where Billich was forced to battle for his life.
He contacted me before my scheduled European trip to Cannes and Croatia, asking me to visit him on the day before a serious operation. I took the early Qantas flight that morning from Melbourne Sydney so that I could be with my “bro” ahead of the surgery to remove gangrene from his foot and to find the underlying problem that was seriously compromising his wellbeing.
Following the successful procedure, we all believed he would finally be on the mend, back to doing what he loves most: creating artistic masterpieces and travelling.
Steve Ravić with Charles Billich in hospital (Photo: Private album)
Little did he know that he was about to spend months in hospital.
Charles Billich responded in the only way Charles Billich knows how.
He kept creating, even from his hospital bed.
For almost seven decades, Charles Billich has painted his way through an extraordinary life, creating artworks that have marked historic moments for many of the world’s most significant institutions.
His health problems did not stop him from completing a painting of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, which was unveiled at a Catholic Church function by the Prime Minister of Australia. It was even arranged for Billich to be transported from hospital so he could attend the event.
Billich creating in hospital (Photo: Private album)
But that would be the last canvas completed in his home artelier for quite some time.
For the past three-and-a-half months, the internationally celebrated Croatian-Australian artist has been undergoing repeated treatment and operations at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital after doctors discovered gangrene caused by severely restricted blood flow to his feet.
For his wife, Christa, the medical crisis brought with it a terrifying possibility, that she could lose her Billich.
As the physical battle intensified, another problem began to emerge.
The artist who had spent his life surrounded by canvases, vibrant colour and people from every walk of life suddenly found himself confined to a hospital room at St Vincent’s in Sydney, unable to live and work in the only way he had ever truly known.
“I am worried that we might lose him,” Christa said during a call she made to me. “Nothing is worth it if we lose him, there is not point, we need him here with us.”
Evidently, his depression was also beginning to take its toll on the otherwise cheerful Christa as she watched his spirit sink further by the day.
“He is becoming very depressed,” she told me.
Bored and searching for answers, Billich would call me every other day, hoping that I would not give up on his quest for justice and his battle against communist totalitarianism. He expected me to continue the crusade and I continued to reiterate that we needed him here to keep our own spirits high.
Christa and Charles Billich (Photo: Private album)
Essentially, he was telling me that he wanted me to keep the flame alive and continue the fight for truth, justice and the Billich way.
I travelled to Medjugorje and climbed Apparition Hill in Hercegovina to say a prayer for him. It meant a great deal to Billich because he is a man of faith and he has a passion for Medjugorje, even painting it the apparition of Our Lady Mary.
The well wishes began to pour in for the legendary artist.
From Cardinal Ante Ivas, to Bishop Fabijan Svalina, to the famous Fra Šito Ćorić, the support from the Church was overwhelming and this was echoed by the greater community.
Out of that support, another idea began to blossom, that we should create a book featuring Billich’s religious paintings and from that also stemmed another. It was evident that the Billich legacy will only ever multiply in greatness.
Despite all of the treatment and the exceptional work of the medical staff, Christa understood that keeping Billich alive required more than simply treating his body.
He needed that special gift he so often refers to as having been granted to him by God, through messages passing through the cosmos, that channel him to be Charles Billich.
So his wife Christa brought his world into the hospital.
His room became a working studio.
And Sydney was about to witness something the world had probably never seen before.
A new sketchbook arrived.
Musicians came through the door.
Beautiful models posed.
Feather dancers danced to his heart’s content.
And the clinical rhythm of hospital life was suddenly interrupted by the unpredictable energy that had always surrounded Billich and his creativity.
On the door was a simple warning:
“Please knock before entering.”
Obviously, being an artist and being confined to a hospital without being able to create do not go hand in hand, so his wife helped transform the hospital room into what may very well be the world’s first hospital Artelier.
Christa often tells me that she credits St Vincent’s Hospital for allowing something so unusual to take place inside an environment normally governed by treatment schedules, medical procedures and recovery.
And gradually, something changed.
Billich changed.
The transformation was not medical in the conventional sense.
It was a personal vision that once again gave him the determination to travel.
Christa called me to arrange for Billich and herself to attend the Marko Perković Thompson concert in Vukovar on August 29 to hand him a gift, and Billich even prepared a painting of Vukovar that he wanted to present to Mayor Marijan Pavliček. He also wanted to present a cityscape painting of Dubrovnik to Mayor Mato Franković. He was on a serious mission together with the support of his wife.
Although the decision to travel ultimately proved premature, it was unmistakably clear that Billich was on a mission to come back.
Then, on Tuesday, August 25, he underwent what is expected to be his final surgical procedure before aiming for a more permanent recovery.
The procedure was a success and Billich is once again aiming high.
His positive spirit continues to be infectious to everyone around him, all wanting to see him stronger, healthier and back to creating what could yet become the greatest masterpieces of his extraordinary career.
He is smiling again.
He is happy again.
For a man whose identity has been inseparable from art for most of his life, the hospital studio became far more than a distraction. It gave structure and meaning to days that would otherwise have been lost to illness.
Even at 91, and after repeated operations, Billich was still working.
Still imagining.
Still creating.
And hopefully, finally preparing to leave hospital by the end of the following week.
It is simply another chapter in a life that has rarely followed any ordinary trajectory.
(Photo: Private album)
Born in Croatia, Billich fled communist Yugoslavia and emigrated to Australia as a displaced person in 1956, going on to become an artistic great. The young émigré built an institution together with his wife, Christa, and his work travelled far beyond Sydney as the Billich name became synonymous with art all over the world.
From being named “Sport Artist of the Year” among many awards and accolades, to having works displayed by institutions including the Vatican and the United Nations and being appointed official artist for everything from the Olympic Games to the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Billich has become synonymous with greatness.
Now, decades later, when Billich could no longer go to the studio, Christa brought the studio to him and from his hospital room, he began pencilling out the plans for the next phase of his illustrious story.
Billich plans to make at least one final visit to Croatia as his friends rally around him to make it happen, and I have engaged in discussions with our mutual friend Dario Marenić to pursue multiple exhibitions around Croatia.
Together with the great mind of Dario Marenić in our corner, Billich aims to have his works exhibited throughout his homeland, while I have also started a campaign to create awareness that Billich deserves formal recognition from the Republic of Croatia for his lifetime of major contributions and contributions.
Billich with Davorka and Dario Marenić (Photo: Private album)
There is only one Billich.
And after receiving all those major accolades from all over the world, it is now time for Croatia to put the icing on the cake.
Look out for the latest feature documentary “Billich 90”, coming soon!
A new canvas has been placed on the easel and The BEST of BILLICH is yet to come!!