site.btaExhibition Explores Spanish Painter Diego Velazquez's Influence on Contemporary Art

An exhibition inspired by the great Spanish painter Diego Velazquez (1599-1660) will open at Sofia's Astry Gallery on April 23 at 5pm, to run until May 30. The project explores the influence of the Baroque master on contemporary art and his role as a "painter of painters", the gallery said on Monday.

"In this exhibition, three significant and very different contemporary artists – Alicia Sancha, Zahary Kamenov and Francois Dupuis – enter into a dialogue with Velazquez," says curator Vihra Pesheva. The main question is "what this gives them and what it gives us – the viewers, the so-called wider public", she adds.

The display is fittingly titled Velazquez, Alicia, Zahary, Francois and I, where "I" refers to the personality of the viewer. It includes works in various genres: painting, sculpture, monotypes, a model, multimedia and drawings (pastel, charcoal and digital).

The event will mark 25 years since the establishment of the Astry Gallery.