site.btaExhibition to Pay Tribute to Artist Zlatyu Boyadzhiev on His 120th Anniversary

An exhibition in Sofia will mark the 120th anniversary of Bulgarian painter Zlatyu Boyadzhiev’s birth. Titled "Messages", it will be on at the Palace National Gallery and will run from September 14, 2023, to January 7, 2024, the organizers said Friday. The exhibition will take place under the patronage of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and with financial support from the Culture Ministry. 

The gallery says that the selected works trace the main stylistic and thematic lines in the oeuvre of the artist until 1951, when he suffered a severe stroke and his right side became paralyzed, as well as the changes in his pictorial expression after he began painting again, but this time with his left hand. 

Twelve rooms on two floors in the Palace will display paintings, sketches of three of Boyadzhiev’s most iconic works (A Wedding in Brezovo, 1939; Brezovo Shepherds, 1941; and In the Field/After Ploughing, 1942), documentary material and photographs provided by the heirs of the artist and the Union of Bulgarian Artists’ archive. “There are also works from the collections of the National Gallery, Sofia Art Gallery, the galleries in Blagoevgrad, Varna, Vidin, Gabrovo, Kazanlak, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Plovdiv, Ruse, Stara Zagora, and Yambol, the State Cultural Institute at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, United Bulgarian Bank, Litex Commerce, as well as private collections. The Bulgarian National Television documentary 101 Portraits (2006) will be screened in one of the halls of the Palace. 

The design of the space is created by Kirill Ass and Nadia Korbut; the graphic design is done by Idea Design Studio. For the first time, visitors can use personal audio guides for 19 of the paintings displayed, with script provided by art historians from the National Art Gallery. A bilingual exhibition catalogue will be presented on the eve of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev’s birthday on October 22. The exhibition program will also include tours with the curators and a presentation on the artist’s technique by the gallery’s chief restorer Milena Donkova.