Old town | Permanent exhibition of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev

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Permanent exhibition of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev

This remarkable house was built in 1860 and belonged to Dr Stoyan Chomakov (1817-1893), an eminent public figure from the National Revival period, one of the most prominent fighters for an independent Bulgarian church. He has studied medicine in Italy and then in Paris he has specialized in surgery. Dr Chomakov was the head of the first Bulgarian hospital, founded in Plovdiv after the Liberation.

Built during three years (1858-1860), the house is a typical representative of the late symmetrical Revival period houses with imposing architecture and interiors. After the Liberation, around the turn of the century, the house was consigned a summer residency of Tsar Ferdinand.

Since 1984 it has been turned into a permanent exposition for the largest collection of paintings by the great Bulgarian artist, a most authentic and original 20th century painter, Zlatyu Boyadziev (1903-1976). The painter’s work has been organized around several cycles of paintings i.e. the Bresovo cycle, which has been permanent through all his life, the Mining cycle with multi-figure compositions and industrial landscapes in the background, and a Romanian cycle, distinctive with its expressive technique.

Zlatyu Boyadzhiev was born in the town of Bresovo. He finished in 1925 the Secondary School of Commerce in Plovdiv. In 1932 he graduated from the Fine Arts Academy and was employed as a teacher. Zlatyu Boyadjiev was affectionate for his country and its people, and put man in the centre of his works.

The severe stroke, the painter suffered in 1951 entailed the paralysis on the right side of his body. This fatal moment has divided his work into two main periods. The neoclassical approach to the compositions depicting the peasants’ life is characteristic for the earlier period of the artist. During his second period his style has changed towards grotesque imagery and expressive colours. His new world was full of fairy tales, symmetry, balance and harmony.

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